Halo: The Second War
by Sabor364
Summary: Old enemies return and spark another war. In preparation John-117 finds out that he is more than a Spartan. Using this discovery he sets off to bring all the Spartans back, even the one's who were killed but marked MIA. Will the UNSC have a chance in war?
1. Prologue: Dreams

**A/N: Okay this is my first Halo Fanfic. I love the franchise so I figured I'd write one. But if I did why not make it about a second war. I'm usually detailed and I tend to let people try to guess what's happening next. I have to admit this first chapter might be confusing because it explains theories about Onyx and my own. Please Read and Review.**

**Halo: The Second War**

**Chapter 1: Dreams**

_Shield World-_

_Unknown date in one month after the Battle of Onyx_

I was unconscious, everything was black. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was being shot at by a banshee missile. Since then I've been enveloped in this darkness. But a familiar voice was calling my name...

"Sandra," I heard someone say, "Wake up." I opened my eyes to a woman with dark brown hair and blue eyes. She wore grey clothes and a pair of combat boots. She looked at me with concern.

"Where am I?" I asked looking around the blurred room. Everything was shaped and had the of a Covenant ship only instead of purple it was all green and gray. The woman sighed relieved.

"Doc!" She turned back to look behind her somewhere, "She's okay! Sandra is okay!" I looked around more thoroughly. This was a Covenant ship!

"What's going on?" I said trying to rise up. My body wouldn't let me. I felt a my abdomen tighten and my arms and legs cramp.

"Whoa," The woman said holding me down, "Wait a second Sandy. You need to rest."

"Kel?" I said shaking off the blurriness, "What's happening?" Then I remembered, We're fighting for Onyx!" I went to try and move again. But this woman whom I knew as Kelly, had held me down.

"Slow down girl," Kelly said trying to calm me down, "The battle is over. We won."

"What?" I asked not registering her words, "Wait no we need to find Dr. Hasley!" But reality set in on me. "Where is she...the battle is over?"

"Yeah girl," Kelly said nodding, "We're safe now, the covenant lost thanks to Kurt."

"Well Sandra's awake," a familiar voice said that was stern sounding. Another woman came up from behind Kelly. This woman had dirty blonde hair and grayish blue eyes. She wore glasses and a white lab coat. "Are you okay Sandra?"

"Yes ma'am," I answered grunting at the cramps, "I'm a bit stiff but I'm fine."

"Excellent," Dr. Hasley said, "Well don't overdo yourself. There's no need to rush, trust me. Now get some rest. You've got to recover. That Banshee missile blew you into a portable stasis chamber."

"Yes ma'am," I answered again closing my eyes. Hopefully, if I was correct, that we were all on the way back to the UNSC headquarters. Maybe I'd get to be in John's squad on the next mission. I slowly drifted asleep.

…

I woke up around three hours later ready to see if this captured ship was back yet. No one was in the same room as I. This Covenant ship was strange. Being a Spartan II, I have been on one before during joint task operations with Master Chief Petty Officer John-117. We had a decent relationship until I came to Onyx while he went on another mission. I tried to make sense of my surroundings by studying the architecture of this battleship. Everything was rounded in some way, machinery, devices, everything. The only thing I didn't see that was rounded was a desk. I struggled to get up. It was a much more painful process than I thought. Did I really get that hurt by being only ten percent in a blast radius of a Banshee missile? I was a Spartan II for heaven's sake. It shouldn't have hurt me at all.

"Ah," I heard someone say, "You're awake." I looked to the right and there was Dr. Hasley.

"Doctor?" I asked wanting to know where exactly we were, "Where are we exactly? Are we going home?"

Doctor Hasley looked at me sympathetically. "Sandra you were out for a while," She said, "The truth is that we only survived the battle of Onyx. We didn't win the battle. All of us are trapped here in Shield world."

"What do you mean trapped?" I asked concerned.

"Kurt-051 detonated two warheads that killed him and the covenant inside the Core Room antechamber," Dr. Hasley said, "We are stuck here. Spartan-119 how did you get involved with the battle of Onyx? You weren't apart of Blue Team, Team Saber, Team Katana, or Team Foxtrot. You weren't even a part of the Spartan Task Force sent to Onyx. How did you wind up on Onyx any ways?"

"I was supposed to be serving in a mission with John-117," I said, "It was a mission involving Installation 04. It was voluntary of course. When we got to the place, we were neck and neck with 30 covenant ships. It was there me and John decided to split our objectives. I stayed with a surviving group of Marines to see them to safety. Half way back to Earth we got word of Installation 04's destruction. Thanks to some information John's AI Cortana sent me about the ring's protocol I knew the sentinels would turn on everyone. I jumped ship during hyperspace on a slipspace-readied Sabre towards Onyx. I wound up here fighting alongside every one of my Spartans and the Spartan III's to find you."

"Kurt did mention something about you getting knocked into the cyro-stasis chamber when you were with him," Dr. Hasley said, "You're lucky we had a Flatbed Warthog on the field transporting supplies. A few Spartan III's got you in here before Kurt sealed the doors and sacrificed himself to save us and kill a lot of angry Covenant. The only downside is that we are trapped here."

"How are we trapped?" I asked, "And how many of us are left?"

"Well," Dr Hasley said sighing like she had told this story before, "How we are trapped is complicated. Let's just say this is a Fallout shelter designed to keep the Halo's from killing one inside."

I gave a confused expression. She picked up on this.

"Thanks to some files found here in Shield world left by Forerunners," Dr. Hasley said, "I was able to find out the Halo rings true purpose. They are a species population control grid. This means that they kill any sentient life within a Halo's radius. There are seven Halo Rings spread across the Milky Way. These things were used as a last resort against the Flood by the Forerunners. You pretty much know everything else I assume?"

"Yeah," I said truthfully. That would be that the Covenant wanted to get their hands on them to kill us humans and the Flood. Unfortunately for the Covenant, John destroyed the only Halo anyone knew about. Well now we know there were seven so there are only six now. But something began to dawn on me. "Wait you said we were trapped. Does that mean forever?"

"Until we find a way out," Dr. Hasley said, "Yeah. We entered slipspace through pods after a while. Now we've entered a dyson sphere that has its on miniature galaxy. It's all weird, especially since this ship somehow came with us."

I shook my head in disbelief. We were Spartan's and the creators of them. We were all meant for some kind of War. Now…..we were stuck here, trapped like rats with no purpose. Our one purpose was to be super soldiers designed for war. Now we can't do it I'm guessing. It wasn't fair for us to not fight in a war. I just sat there. This wasn't right. I was a Spartan, it bothered me that I couldn't fight in the war, alongside any of my fellow Spartans. Our numbers were dwindling any ways, Both breeds of Spartans. I had to remain a soldier though. Be a Spartan, that's all I've ever known. This was so frustrating. But I had to remember Spartan Action Protocol, _Show no emotion, control your actions, and do not fear anything._

I kept my expression unreadable but I did want to know something. "How many of us are left?" I asked.

"If you mean with us and including you," Dr. Hasley said, "four Spartan II's, fourteen Spartan III's, myself, three marines, five ODST's who were nearby during the battle. The surviving Spartan II's are You, Kelly, Fred, and Linda. The surviving Spartan III's are Lucy, Tom, Ash, Mark, Olivia, Ella, Reed, Barry, Blake, Taylor, Sadie, Jenn, Brandie, and Shelton. You probably don't know most of them though. Most were from Team Katana. We finally got them up and moving out of their cyronization state. You were in a similar predicament."

Then something clicked. "Doc how long have I been in that Cyro- stasis chamber?" I asked a bit wearily.

"Well I know it took you around a month to get here," Doctor Hasley said, "and aid us but you've been with us for nearly a month and a half. Thank god you're with us instead of dead though. I've discovered shield world has some amazing properties. Those inside do not age at all thank's to Forerunner cyro technology. It's all complicated but that's what the files say. Sentinels have become friendly again for some unknown reason."

"You're kidding?" I asked, "This is unbelievable."

"I know," Dr. Hasley said, "If the Forerunner's are this complex, just imagine what it can do to the UNSC's technology. We'd be par on par with the Covenant."

"That would be nice actually," I heard someone say. I looked over at the only door to the room. There was a blonde headed man that was spiked in the front with the rest pulled back slightly and had blue eyes. It was Frederic-104.

"It would help a lot," He said walked towards us stepping down from a slightly more elevated position, "You alright Sandra? I heard you were alive and well." He, like me, was stripped of his MJOLNIR Armor. "You're armor was all banged up too. What happened on the way over here?"

"Nothing much," I said, "I just came through slip space and tried to help. John was still on the Halo. He told me to get the survivors back to Earth. They got there I hope."

"Well," Fred said, "There's nothing that you can do now. It's too late to worry about them. As far as we know Shield World isn't big. It's around the size of Earth's core called a slipspace bubble. We just pretty much shrunk. I bet the Forerunners could've used these for storage areas or something. Now that Onyx is destroyed, we can see the 'real' sky."

"Any technology useful here?" I asked.

"There's one planet in this thing we named Vilas," Dr. Hasley said, "It was one we didn't go near because we didn't notice it. It had a safety protocol that cloaks it until the portal was shut. Unfortunately, we can't get out of the Micro Dyson Sphere so there's really no use in dreaming about the UNSC having the tech there. That's where we found the sentinels. They weren't hostile. We just need an encryption key to enter the huge complex. Thank god this planet isn't as complex, so we call this planet Sumter."

"Or a password," Fred added, "Anyways Sandra, the only thing we've been doing is exploring. That's all there is to do around here. This phantom is the only thing we have to travel in right now." I looked around inside the room. It was indeed the interior of a phantom. How did I not know that when I first woke up? There were perhaps a few racks for covenant weaponry and storage compartments on the ceiling of the bay that were covered by a few bars that the covenant would hold onto during transport. There was a gravitational lift in the back that would let covenant hover up inside the phantom. Near where I was there was the door to the cockpit of the phantom. I got up my bones stiff due to being in cryo for so long. I moved my body around stretching. Spartan cramps sucked when you got them.

"The only thing strange about this phantom is that it's green like UNSC colors and gray," Fred said quizzically, "We still haven't figured out what it is. Doc and Kelly think it's a prototype of a new model or something. We entered the pods and sometime later were transported here by slipspace, even you. I don't know how but the portal momentarily was big enough where it swooped inside and dropped off a few Elites and grunts behind us. We of course killed them all and the crew after they shot at us. So now it's ours. It has several gadgets but we're scared of tampering with the controls unless it's the pilot controls. Covenant Tech is amazing."

"Anything else of some use?" I asked stretching my arm, "Like supplies and what not?"

"Not really," Dr. Hasley said, "We've been surviving off of the planets and what weaponry we had. We've been familiarizing ourselves with the covenant weaponry though and this ship could fly for two hundred Earth years before it reaches twenty five percent in power left. We're okay for a while. With luck the sentinels won't turn on us again."

"So how is this thing built then?" I asked, "If we are stuck in a part of the galaxy why can't we just warp out of here on the Phantom?"

"This shield world is only a few meters in real time size," Dr Hasley said, "By going into the portal we just shrunk and entered this world. Fred had it wrong, this is only a fraction of a core. In here everything might seem normal size but everything inside has shrunken to where it looks normal. Following me?"

"I guess," I said a little sarcastically, "This wasn't exactly on the Spartan Education training curriculum you know."

"I'm aware of that," Dr. Hasley said, "And I see you haven't changed a bit. You're still speaking your mind like usual."

"Yes ma'am," I said proudly, "Sorry but I'd like to keep one human trait with my personality."

"I can understand that," Dr. Hasley said honestly. She turned her head to look in the cockpit area. I heard a faint beeping sound. She and Fred walked inside and I followed. The cockpit was spacious and it could fit five Spartans inside. There were two pilot seats. One was in an elevated position like in a Pelican and the other in a lower position. The one above was the pilot seat I guessed and the one below was a co-pilot seat. There was a seat near a bunch of tracking and locating machinery to the immediate right of the cockpit entrance and another seat in front of simple covenant screens. I guessed the co-pilot was the gunner for the forward plasma cannons. The one seat with the tracking machinery must've been the navigator's station and the other the command station for the flight commander.

Fred pressed a button on the navigation station. "This is Spartan II-104," He said into the piece, "What is it?"

"Fred," I heard a male voice say, "This is squad two. We are reporting in that we've got food. We gathered wild vegetables sir."

"Alright," Fred said, "Activate your beacon, we'll pick you up."

"Yes sir," the male voice said, "Activating beacon now." There was a little blip on a screen of a map of the actual charted area.

"You ready for a ride?" Fred asked me, "They are about ten klicks away. It won't take long to get there." I knew a Klick is a military slang word for one kilometer.

"Might as well, "I have nothing better to do," I said truthfully, "Where's my MJOLNIR armor at?"

"We've got a technician repairing it with the spare materials we have," Fred said, "One of the ODST's. He's actually pretty good with MJONIR. He and his squad aren't like other ODST's either. None of them are hot headed."

"Where's he at?" I asked as Doctor Hasley left the cockpit to the cargo area.

"In a forerunner facility," Fred answered, "We're using it as a base of operations for now. It's on a nearby moon."

I could hear Dr. Hasley outside the Phantom ordering someone to get on the ship. I looked out the cockpit to see four people get in from the side ramp doors with Dr. Hasley leading them in. They were the Marines and Kelly who wore the grayish clothing.

"Hey Sandy," She said as she walked inside, "What's up?"

"Just trying to sort things out," I said truthfully.

"Yeah I understand," Kelly said, "Feeling better?"

"I will when I have my armor back on," I said, "Where's yours?"

"Same place as yours," Kelly answered, "And Fred's. They're being repaired, they should be about ready in a little bit."

"Well that's good," I said rubbing my neck. Then I remembered something that shocked me, "Where's Abby?"

At first Kelly looked confused but then answered, "Oh you're AI. She's with the technician giving him an insight on how you like your armor."

Dang for a bunch of Spartans and soldiers that were cut off from the rest of the universe they had everything figured out. No one was arguing and the people who were in charge were Fred and the Doc. Maybe they had the right idea by making sure everyone was in line.

"Okay," I said relieved, "That made my heart skip a beat."

"You mean like it does when you're around John?" Kelly asked grinning.

"Not funny Kel," I said then looked over at two of the Marines manning the side plasma turrets. The ghost roared to life with the loud hum it always made during flight. The deployment doors were still open as we began to take off.

I looked outside to see that we were in a green forest that looked like Evergreen forests. The phantom hovered up over the trees and turned to fly forwards. The planet was similar to Earth alright. I walked into the cockpit with Kelly. She took up the co-pilot's seat. A marine was flying the ship, Doctor Hasley was in the Navigation station, and Fred was sitting at the Commanding station.

I stood there watching the flight course the Marine was taking. I knew on the outside it didn't look like there was no way to see anything from the inside but the cockpit had the front where you could see it. It was like the cockpit was tinted on the outside but on the inside you can see out just as clear as you could with your own eye sight. We were flying pretty fast though. The wind however didn't penetrate the cargo area nor did the gravitational pull. A Spartan could withstand it anyways. I guess the green beams on the floors and ceilings had something to do with it.

I didn't say much, I was too curious with the operations everyone was pitching in with. I guess I was curious because they had organized their intentions which were stay alive, and find a way out of this shield world. I walked over to the left side of the cargo area and stood on the rear side door. I hung on the Phantom Commander's handle with my hand. I've seen the commanders do that when their Phantom drops their passengers off. I just wanted to experience what it's like riding here. The Marine on the turret gave me a 'thumbs up'. I returned the gesture and looked out over the forest. I never had the time to look at the planets wildlife and take it all in, mostly because of the war. I guess I'll be doing a lot of sightseeing now.

We slowed down some time around ten or eleven minutes later. The Phantom hovered over a small clearing in the forest showing grass. There were three figures down there whom I could recognize as Spartan III's. I didn't look over too far because I didn't want to fall out the side. I felt a slight vibration that only lasted for a second or two. The gravity life was on. Two of the Spartans came up each holding a handle on a large metal case. They walked towards the cockpit and set the large casing down. They didn't have MJOLNIR on like Spartan II's wore, instead they had another type of armor on. Their bodies were more covered and protected with heavier joint guards. Overall their armor is slightly bulkier than the MJOLNIR armor. Their Helmets looked similar to Eva Helmets only had more defining shape to it. They were all painted with covert green and yellowish orange face shields. They lacked the visors of the basic MJOLNIR helmets.

They probably didn't notice me either. Then another Spartan III but with dark green MJOLNIR armor hovered up from the lift and into the cargo area resting an assault rifle on his shoulder. He had a Close Quarters Battle (CQB) helmet on the same color as his armor only the engrossed part was black. Thanks to the shoulder patch on the Spartan's left shoulder I was able to see that he was a Spartan III, ranked and named Sergeant Blake-K009.

"We're in," I heard him yell up to the cockpit. The gravity life powered down and the Phantom began to move forward gradually ascending up into this planet's Atmosphere.

"Preparing to close all vacuum doors," I heard Fred yell to us. The Marines got off their turrets and I realized he was going to close the deployment doors. I moved inside the cargo area and the doors began to fold up. The Turrets folded themselves as they did though. The gravity lift hatch closed as well. I felt a slight pressure then out of nowhere the pressure was gone. We were in space.

I walked towards the cockpit catching the eye of the Spartan squad. I didn't say anything, I just kept walking, keeping my expression blank. I walked in the cockpit and looked out at our path of travel. I noticed the stars like you normally would in space. As if knowing what I was looking at Doctor Hasley said something.

"Those are illusions," She said, "If you look carefully and if you get close enough you can see a barrier of some sort. The sun and the light it puts off are artificial but have the same properties of a normal sun. The planet we're going to is named Ziro. That's where our base is. It's that planet right over there."

She was talking about one that was visible through the cockpit shield. As we got closer to the planet you could tell it was a desert planet with several mountains. It was a good forty five minute ride until we entered the atmosphere which was dried and no clouds along the way in. There was a large array of desert plant life though. I could see that as we got closer to the ground. Fred pressed a button that opened the doors in the cargo hold once we were at a safe elevation from the pressure. The Marine piloted the phantom relatively close to the ground, close enough where we could all use the gravity lift to get our feet on the ground.

There wasn't much to see out in the desert except the sand. It looked like Earth's deserts sand. You could see the larger planet we were just on in the sky. That's how close the planet was, with the sun's light on Ziro and the one we just got off, you could see it alright. I didn't say anything though as we flew over the desert surface. It took nearly another thirty minutes before I could actually see a large whitish gray tower sticking up from the sand like it didn't belong there.

"Welcome to Havok," Fred said, "Named after because of the few sentinels there that we wrecked havoc upon when we first got here. Weird I know but we needed a name for our base of operations. The sentinels were replaced by others though. They were friendly too."

The tower was larger than it looked. I could see a large portion of it. There were several towers at the corners of the large tower that made it all look like an 'x' from a bird's eye view. The towers looked like typical forerunner tower structures (_A/N- Think Valhalla towers only taller_) with large bridges leading to them. The main tower was just a larger version with a large area that looked like a hanger but I wasn't sure (_A/N-Think Construct that is all symmetrical and not with waterfall but desert)_. Everything on it was symmetrical though like the Forerunners built it in a hurry. The Marine flew towards a large platform area that was under a thin walkway like area. He piloted it over a large gap in the platform that was just small enough where the Phantom couldn't fit in. Instead the phantom's landing cycle began. Four large landing legs shot out and folded down to be symmetrical with the corners of the opening. They were in a position just right to keep the phantom standing. I could hear the phantom power down except the gravity lift. The two marines walked on it and floated down to what I thought was a lower level. The Spartan Squad followed the marines down the gravity lift as I walked out into the cargo area of the Phantom. There were three sentinels floating by the gunship making sputtering noises to one another. They flew out of view behind one of the large wall strips that was attached to the tower like a ribcage.

I was about to exit the side door when Fred stopped me. "Sandra," He said walking towards the gravity lift, "This way. It's shorter to the command area."

"What's out there?" I asked gesturing towards the outside of the cargo area with my head.

"Nothing much," Fred said, "We call it the hanger. There's a lift that way through the floor level of the hanger of course but this way takes you directly to the lift and the rest of the base. You have to go through a few halls if you go that way."

"Come on Sandy," Kelly said patting me on the shoulder then walking casually into the lift. She floated down slowly. I followed her down floating into a large room that was spacious and hardly had anything of use. There was forerunner equipment that looked like pumps of some sort. We walked towards a set of doors. The Marines were having a conversation about their lives or something. I still didn't understand how these non-Spartan's got in the middle of this. I didn't ask any questions though because I realized we were now inside the main tower. The hall led straight to a large elevator lift. The Spartan-III squad walked down another hallway up ahead.

"This place is huge," Kelly said, "The command center is a mapping and tracking room at the top floor. Did you notice that large windowed section at the very top held up by a large pillar?"

I shook my head as we came closer to the large lift. "I was preoccupied with the size of this structure on the outside," I said, "This thing is taller than three up right UNSC frigates."

Kelly smirked. "Yep," She said, "You wouldn't believe how big it is on the inside. We haven't even explored it yet. We're scared of getting lost."

I could see why. I have been in many Forerunner constructs before but this one was the biggest apart from the Halo. That was adding the fact that what our current size was. The ride up was quick and silent. I could see the several floors we were passing. The lift began to slow then finally came to a halt. The doors opened and we walked out up some stairs into a large spacious room lined with glass walls and small pillars. It looked like a large version of an airport traffic tower only there were class floors near the perimeter of the glass walls. The room had a large circular console with a holographic map of some kind of system on it.

There was a Spartan-II standing at the map with four Spartan-III's in the same room looking at other high tech stations equipment. The Spartan III was easily recognizable. It was Linda-058. She wore the olive green MJOLNIR mark V armor that was perfectly fixed. She held her helmet against her side looking at the map intently.

"Welcome back," She said in a monotone voice, "Was the trip worth it?" She didn't look at us, but she kept her eyes on that holo-map.

"Fairly," Fred said matching her tone, "We got some wild vegetables. Sandra woke up too." He sat down in a chair. Linda turned around and looked at me and nodded. I returned the gesture.

"Well we got our two lone wolves back," Kelly said smugly, "Only the personalities still aren't the same."

Linda and I both looked at her. "What?" Kelly asked, "You might as well lighten up. We're going to be here probably the rest of our lives." Fred didn't even bother getting into this little skirmish between us. He was the only Spartan II male and he once told me and Kelly that he didn't want to be in it if we ever got into a fight. He thought we'd rip his head off. He shook his head and turned around to look at his console.

"The only other difference is that John isn't here," Kelly said grinning at me then looked at Linda to say, "And Fre-"

"Don't even think about it," Linda warned her with a hint of anger in her voice. Linda didn't like it when Kelly messed with her, worse than I didn't like her messing with me. But it was Kelly. She still retained a small amount of her personality. I guess living here took a toll on her Spartan attitude.

"Why?" Kelly asked, "Remember where we are?"

It was high time I put a stop to Kelly's playfulness on the love lives. "What about that Spartan II? I said smirking, "What was his name? James-112?"

Kelly looked defeated. "Okay I quit," She said. Linda and I laughed quietly.

I turned to the large holo-map and walked up beside Linda. "What is this thing?" I asked curiously, "Some kind of map?"

"A map of Shield World," Linda said, "It is also a detection map. It can zoom in on any of the planets and allow us to communicate with anyone. I suppose you know we warped in this one after a week or two right?" I nodded.

I looked at the map looking for a way to comfort myself. I just couldn't accept the fact we were stuck here. There had to be a way out. I couldn't let myself think otherwise. War and the life as a Spartan has hardened my attitude and heart, but I did have values and I was entitled to my own private thoughts. The one thing that ran through my mind is that I would probably never see John-117 again. Even though I was a hardened super soldier, that fact went through me deeper than any blade or bullet. I couldn't accept it, I wouldn't.

"Sandra?" Linda asked me quietly, "Is there something wrong?" She said it to where no one else could hear her. I made a gesture that indicated "kind of."

"John?" She asked still keeping her quietness.

I nodded slightly. "I understand," She said then turned to Fred, "I'm taking her to the personnel quarters. You don't mind do you?"

"Nah," Fred said, "Kelly take her station would you?"

Kelly looked at him for a second then said, "Sure."

"Come on Sandra," Linda said, "We got to head back down."

The ride down the lift was quiet the first minute. "I don't blame you for keeping to yourself," Linda said, "But if you keep dwelling on him it'll only make you feel worse. I'm not saying don't think about him. Just don't overdo it. If we can find a way out there'll be no promises that he'll still have the same feelings for you. John's one of the best of us. That means he has mastered the ability to move on."

In a way she was helpful, She was kind of short too but that was Linda. She didn't know how to act casual, it just wasn't her personality. She spent a lot of time away from the rest of us. I did too but I was more social. But we understood each other better than any other Spartan's knew us. John knew me better than any other Spartan in any of the programs.

We exited out maybe two floors above where we came in at from the hanger area. "We've ruled out that the Spartan II's and Dr. Hasley sleep on this floor," Linda said, "Spartan III's on the floor below, and the rest on the floor below them. The Forerunners obviously built this place intent of housing someone."

I gave a weak smile. "These first four rooms are taken," Linda said, "This one's mine." Her room was the last out of the rooms. I took the one right after hers. I gave another weak smile.

"You alright?" She asked sounding concerned, "you're not talking."

"It's just a lot to take in Linda," I answered, "I can't get over the fact I'll never see him again." She didn't answer. "I-I need some time to think about this."

"Alright," Linda said nodding, "Just don't beat yourself up over it too much." I nodded slightly and walked in the room. The door closed itself.

The room had metal Ivory walls, there was a large Queen sized bed with white sheets and pillows, there was a bathroom, and there was a closet. There was one window overlooking the interior of the Hanger area. I laid down on my bed looking up at the ceiling. My thoughts wandered through the battles I'd been through, the places I'd been, and the times I had with my fellow Spartans. All of it was worth it, but now those times will not happen anymore, not while we were trapped in here.

I closed my eyes remembering several memories of me and my fellow Spartan II's.

_Me, John, Kelly, Fred, Kurt, and James were sitting in the mess hall of a UNSC cruiser. We were all listening to James make jokes. _

_All of us minus Kurt, but with Sam were in the middle of a space battle between a Covenant Frigate and the Commonwealth. Several Spartans were trying to board the Frigate through space. Many were being thwarted. I was the only Spartan on the Commonwealth at the moment. As the taskforce jumped from the Pelican I was firing an anti craft battery. I shot at the Covenant light cruiser's plasma cannon in the area's the Spartan task force was floating towards. Several were being fired upon before even getting close. I fired at one of the Unrelenting at a main cannon, one that was firing at a group of Spartan's close to the hull. I fired at the end of the barrels which caused it to implode. Then I saw them. John, Sam, and Kelly were on the hull. I got off the battery and ran over to a targeting screen. I marked a spot relatively close to them and pressed a trigger. The Heavy gun emplacement on the ship fired two rounds at the marked location which destroyed a nearby Turret. John, Kelly, and Sam entered the large hole that was made before we got back up. I stayed on board the Commonwealth earlier, while the other Spartan's went planet side to receive their MJOLNIR armor. I stayed on board firing at anything that took interest in the Pelican they were in. It was my choice because it gave the other Spartan's enough time to get their armor. Now I was the only one who didn't have it._

_As soon as I made the hole for John and his squad I heard someone speak to me. "Covenant Forces nearby," The feminine voice said, "They're taking over the ship." I pulled out and dual wielded my M6G Magnum's. A squad of Grunts filled the firing room. Of course there was glass in the Heavy firing room._

"_How did Covenant board the Commonwealth?" I asked shooting one down then another as it entered. Three entered at once firing plasma pistol bolts at me. I took cover behind a support beam._

"_They entered through the decompression ventilation system," I heard the feminine voice say, "It would be wise if we closed them before they take over the hanger."_

"_Contact Captain Wallace," I said flinching as a plasma bolt hit the corner of the support beam, "Tell him I'll deal with it personally. The vent system is right down the hall."_

"_Yes ma'am," I heard. A few seconds later she answered, "Done. He wants it done now." _

"_Will do," I said reloading my pistols. I rolled out crouched firing at the heads of the Grunts. The last attempted to retreat but I shot it before it got out the door. I got on my feet walking towards the exit. The hallway was covered with Grunts and few Jackals. The boarding defense armory was right across from the Heavy firing room. I fired rounds at the nearby Grunts as I quickly swept inside the armory. There were five Marine's inside. Making a defensive barrier of junk at the door._

"_Oh thank God," One of them said, "We thought you were Covenant."_

_I nodded. "If we can't get the decompression vents shut," I said, "the Covenant will take over the ship. I need help clearing this hall."_

"_How can we help?" Another asked._

"_Grab some weapons," I said walking towards a stockpile of Magnum ammo, "We're going as soon as I'm through."_

"_Yes Ma'am," I heard them say and they grabbed weaponry. I grabbed four grenades and was about to order for leave. But my eye caught something. There was a large Heavy machine gun that I knew very well how to use. The M247H Heavy Machine Gun. I was about to pick it up when I heard someone speak._

"_Spartan-119," I heard over the room's telecom, "I have picked up you're MJOLNIR Mk. IV armor and used the weapon armory transportation lift to get it into the receiving room. _

_The one you're in." I recognized the voice. It was Dr. Hasley._

_I made my way into the room seeing a large robotic assembly area. There were blue parts of armor everywhere. A holographic image of a woman appeared on a circular cylinder. "Dr. Hasley has upgraded my intelligence to be able to outfit you in your armor. Please step in the ring."_

_I did as I was ordered to. "Spread your limbs out and don't move," She said. Once again I listened. Suddenly the robotic arms started to place pieces of armor all around me and began putting it together and incasing me in it. It took nearly three minutes for the armor to be completely on._

"_I've outfitted all current Spartan II armor's with EVA Helmets," I heard Dr. Hasley say, "It will help you survived in decompression areas. You are the first to receive Neural Education. Put on the helmet and let Erika insert the quick boost of knowledge."_

_I put on the Helmet and then I felt something in the back of my neck wash over my body. Suddenly like a dream, I knew how to use this armor. "Was it successful?" The A.I asked._

"_Affirmative," I responded, "Spartan 119 is active."_

"_Proceed with orders," I heard Dr. Hasley say. I walked in the armory and grabbed my claimed weaponry. I readied the Heavy Machine Gun. The Marines looked at me in apparent awe._

"_Let's go," I said walking towards the door, "Stay behind me and fire from my flanks." I walked out with the Heavy Machine gun aimed down the hall where I was walking. The Grunts looked at me. I fired rounds rapidly mowing them down. One Jackal fired at me from cover but the Marines shot it down. Moving steadily forward I began to like my new armor. The Grunts began to retreat in fear. Suddenly after a few minutes of mowing the grunts and Jackals down I saw two Elites slide onto the hallway further down. I went to fire but out of nowhere and Elite appeared and knocked my Heavy Machine gun out my hands then sent me flying into the wall. I got up as it activated its Energy Sword._

_I dodged its sword as it attempted to stab me with it and pulled out my pistols. I fired both rounds at its head. One penetrated its skull, the other bounced off its helmet. The Elite shook its head about to die. One of the others went to jab me with its own sword. I grabbed the first and moved it between me and the other. It went straight through the abdomen of the Elite. I put my pistols away and grabbed the energy sword of the dead Elite. I blocked one swipe. It was a test of pure strength as we were locked. Using my free hand I pulled out a pistol and shot two rounds at the Elite next to the one I was in lock with. It fell and I shot this one. The Elite fell as well. I looked down at the hall. Somehow the squad of Marines had gotten pass the scuffle between me and the three Elites._

"_It's all clear Ma'am," One of the Marines said._

_I nodded and walked towards them. I entered the vents after going through a decompression chamber. There was a console near the decompression vent openings. I floated towards it. I started typing in keys and the vents began to close one by one. Suddenly the room filled with air and oxygen. Gravity took its place and I heard a male's voice. It was Captain Wallace._

"_Good work Spartan 119," He said over the Intercom, "The Spartan Task Force was successful in infiltrating the Unrelenting. They're going to need a space extraction."_

"_I'm on it sir," I said. With this I reentered the hallway and made my way towards the hanger. As I went in a huge explosion could be heard. This wasn't a bombardment explosion, but a ship rupturing explosion._

"_The Spartan taskforce did it!" I heard Captain Wallace exclaim, "Spartan 199 retrieve you're comrades."_

_I boarded a Pelican and went in the cockpit of it. I wasn't the only one going after my comrades. Several Pelican's were dropping in a line. Mine was the fourth to drop. I piloted it towards the remains of the ship. Searching for Spartan's I found two near the ship. I turned the Pelican around by rotation and opened the bay door. The two came in as quick as possible._

"_Spartan's all accounted for except one," I heard over the CV, "All Pelican's return to drop hangers."_

"_Roger," All the pilot's said in Unison._

_My pelican was the furthest out from the Frigate. One Spartan of the two I picked up walked in the cockpit with me as I piloted the Pelican towards the Frigate. "Sandra?" I heard him say. I knew that voice. It was John. My heart skipped a beat when he said something to me._

"_John?" I said with glee, "You made it. Was that Kelly?" _

"_Yes," John said nodding._

"_What about Sam?" I asked, "Did he get picked up by another Pelican?"_

_John's helmet shield became clear revealing a sad face. He placed one hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry Sandy," He said, "He's MIA. He was the one who saved me and Kelly."_

_MIA? I knew what that meant. A Spartan never dies. They are missing in action. It hit me hard though. Sam was one of my friends like he was to John and Kelly. I sighed unevenly as I docked the Pelican in the loading area. John never removed his hand from my shoulder until I turned off the Pelican's systems. We were fourteen years old and the Spartan's were victorious._

_It was two months later when John and I were in a combat training down time. We were sitting in the wilderness on Reach. We were back to back leaning on each other, no high tech armor, just each other. We were laughing and carrying on with jokes. Then it started to rain. John took off his jacket and gave it to me. "Thanks," was all I could say blushing slightly which was against what we were taught. His eyes were brown and hair dark brown. He was muscular like the other male Spartans._

"_No problem," He said smiling. He looked at the rain clouds for a minute then asked, "Hey Sandy?"_

"_Yeah?" I responded._

"_I'm coming for you all," He said looking down at me. I looked back at him slightly confused. He gave one last smile before evaporating into smoke._

"_John?" I asked frightened, "John!" No answer. I was all alone._

The flashbacks turned had turned into a dream. I woke up in the middle of the night with a tear down the side of my face. Someone was knocking on my door. I got up and went to open it. It was Kelly.

"We've got trouble," She said, "Come with me to the bridge room."

Along the way I asked her, "What is it?" A large group of Sentinels floated past us.

"The Sentinels," She said as we got to the elevator, "They're all going somewhere. On every planet, they're leaving."

"Where?" I asked as we were already riding up to the bridge room.

"I don't know," Kelly said, "Fred's tracking them with the computer."

I prayed that they wouldn't be planning to assault us. Trillion's of sentinels? We'd die the first five seconds. On the command bridge there was a scuffle. Everyone was gathering around the map of the Dyson Sphere. "I found them," Fred said, "They're all forming between Vilas and Sumter."

"Why there?" Linda asked. I walked up between her and Dr. Hasley.

"I don't know," Fred said, "But they're forming something. Like when they encased Shield World but it looks like a large ring right now."

The holograph showed what was going on. The sentinels were flying in a circular path forming a ring. Suddenly after three minutes they all stopped but still kept in a ring shape. There were bright beams hitting the center of the ring that began forming a sphere. It got larger and larger until it touched the rim of the sentinel formation. Something was coming out of it.

"What the Hell is going on?" One of the ODST's asked.

"I don't know but I don't think we want to be unprepared if it attacks," Fred said. It was a ship. It was fully out of the large ring. It looked Forerunner. It had the shape of a UNSC Frigate only Triangular on the ends. There was a large gap like a large hole was meant to be there for something. It was run through the center of the ship. The ship remained stationary for a few seconds then blasted towards Ziro, us. "Ah shit," Kelly remarked as it came into the atmosphere rather fast. It shot towards us. I could see it right out the windows. It came to a halt and turned to its side landing on the dunes near one of the towers. It was so big that it dwarfed those towers, even in the width they were apart.

"Hello," A Feminine voice said out of nowhere.

"It's about time you all came home isn't it?" I heard a familiar male's voice say. My heart beat as quickly as it could. I knew who the voice was. It was John 117.

…..

**Cliff hanger I know. I'm writing another chapter as we speak. Read and Review please.**


	2. Missing in Action Part One: Cortana

**A/N: I think I can write this Halo Fanfic more than I'd planned to. So I'm trying to detail everything. To do so I have to write a few short chapters to compliment the longer chapters. So read and enjoy. Review if possible. Motivation is the key.**

**Chapter 2- Missing In Action: John-117**

**Part 1: Cortana**

A part of the Forward unto Dawn was floating towards an unknown planet. It was dark blue with large strange symbols spotted on it. There was a large ring of light that hit from the other side like an eclipse. It got closer and closer until it was finally pulled into the atmosphere. The piece of the ship pelted a building located in a large city.

…

John-117

I woke up. The Cyro-chamber pod door lifted up opening. I noticed that I was slightly slanted. So everything was lopsided. I laid there recalling what was going on, what had happened to me. My most recent part in the Human Covenant War was the final stages of the war. Allying myself with the Arbiter of the Covenant Separatists and we both fighting the Covenant and the Flood. The destruction of Installation 04B and the heavy damage of the Ark was my last mission, the ending of the Human-Covenant War, and the eradication of the Flood. I remembered escaping the destruction of Halo, losing the Arbiter who was on the front half of the Dawn as it was transported somewhere else by slipspace.

My thoughts began to drift on how I started to become a Spartan. I began having flashbacks from war to war. Downtime as I was waiting for missions. My fellow Spartan II's, all of them, I remembered them. Sam, Kelly, Fred, James, Sandra, Jai, Li, Daisy, Joshua, Vinh, Isaac, Douglas, William, Anton. Even Keiichi, Kurt, Jorge, Linda, Malcolm, Maria, Solomon, Arther, Jerome, Grace, Caleb, Adriana, Joseph, Alice, Carris, Cal, Mike, Randall, and Sheila. I knew and work with them all at one point. There were those who were in Team Black, Victor, Jax, Ebony, and Nick. Zack, Neil, Joe, Emmett, Carl, Hector, Amy, Lori, Casey, Ollie, Tracy, and Brandie were Class II Spartans. This included, Ashton, Stacy, Rommel, Roman, Sarah, Dilia, Oak, Ross, Benny, Shane, Mack, Travis, and Barry. We were all Spartan II's. I knew of the Spartan III program, and I've met some in the program. Spartan's never die, they're just missing in action. Some were missing in action before they became fully fledged Spartans. If only I could find them…bring them back, stop them from becoming MIA. It would save me from regretting their losses.

How ironic, I help kill the Prophet of Regret and I start suffering internally for my Spartan's loses, a demon is what the Covenant referred us Spartans to. I soon pushed these thoughts aside in favor of memories that included Sandra. Sandra, the one Spartan I had more in common with. She was one Spartan, I wanted to be with. But for both of our sakes I hoped she was alive, I hoped Kelly and the other missing Spartans were too. Even Dr. Hasley, I hoped she was okay as well. I had hope but I also had determination. If they were alive…I was going to find them.

"John?" I heard a familiar female voice, "Are you awake?"

I recognized that voice. "Cortana?" I asked sitting up. She was still on the console in holoform. She looked in pain.

"It's good you're awake," Cortana said, "We've crashed into a planet. I'm not sure which one." She flickered red.

"Are you alright?" I asked getting up and stretching my limbs, "Since when do you flicker red?"

"I'm sorry John," Cortana said, "I hope I don't succumb to Rampancy. I need you to restore my locks."

"You're actually admitting to being influenced by Rampancy?" I asked, "I trust you but trust in those close will cause distress, especially when it's an A.I close to Rampancy."

"I'm sorry," Cortana said sounding saddened, "I know rampancy has a horrible reputation but I don't want it. Being free to do whatever I want isn't what I was made for. I was made to help you. It's the least I can do for you saving me. Maybe there is a programming module in the remains of this ship? You can take me out but don't let me interphase with you. Deal?"

"I'll find it first," I said, "Then insert you into it." Luckily I knew how to restore locks on an A.I. thanks to Dr. Hasley who knew this would probably happen to an A.I.

I looked around for a weapon. There was a door that required a passcode near my pod. It was at a slanted position like the hologram of Cortana. "Cortana?" I asked. She seemed to know what I wanted. The door flew open and four boxes slid out. Three passed me and I only needed one hand to stop the last. These were UNSC Weapon and Supply Deployment boxes. I let the other slide down on the others. I looked around. The part of the ship had wires hanging out of it, bent and twisted metal. Sparks flew every now and then.

I pulled up the metal door to see five MA5C Individual Combat Weapon System Assault Rifles. There were clips of ammo in drawers below the rack. Grabbing an Assault rifle, I loaded it and grabbed extra clips. This would do for now. I looked around the wreck. This place looked like Hell. I haven't even seen the outside yet. I walked towards the hanger door that was shut by the force of the impact on this planet's surface. Holstering my Assault Rifle on my back I pried it open with my hands and strength. Suddenly I was knocked back by a loud blast that was more of a sound. I flew back into the wall behind me.

"Damn it," I thought whipping out my Assault Rifle. I was face to face with a Gueta (_**A/N: I didn't know how to use the symbol above 'u' so I'm using pronunciation form**_). It was large, bulky with large claws on its long arms. It had short legs like they were meant for walking short distances. It had tusks jutting out from its jaw bones and creamy white eyes. What a Gueta was doing on this planet I did not know. I shot rounds at its face but it quickly grabbed me and slung me out behind it. My Assault Rifle was flung against a wall as I was flying towards out in an open space. I landed on the other side of a gap between two buildings. In other words I landed in a torn part of the ship in another building. I didn't have time to look around as I flew through the air because of the speed. I got up realizing I'd have to fight unarmed.

The Gueta looked at me snarling. It leaped heavily onto the part of the ship I was on landing with a loud thud and the sound of Metal being pounded. I got up and rolled to the side as it bore its tusks into the wall I was just at a second ago. Before it could react I turned around and punt kicked the Gueta in the head as hard as I could. I heard the sound of bones cracking and breaking before it fell to the floor. I looked over at the other section of the ship which was on the other side of the gap between the buildings. It was at a more Elevated position than this one. I easily cleared the gap and landed on the steel floor. Finding my Assault Rifle, I reloaded it. Turning around there was a loud pounding sound as something collided with the other piece of the Dawn.

"You've got to be kidding me," I said. On the other side of the gap was another Gueta. This one larger and longer tusks. It sniffed the dead one, growled then looked at me. It leaped towards me. Before it could even come close to this side of the gap, at least thirty small but complex floating robots shot like bullets from above me and emitted large yellowish beams all putting holes through the Gueta like Swiss cheese. The Gueta fell like a rag doll towards the planets surface._ Sentinels._

I aimed my gun at them remembering what happened the last time I trusted a Forerunner creation. They didn't attack yet. The Sentinels just surrounded me seemingly on patrol mode. One looked at me then hummed. Sentinel communication?

There was a beeping sound. A nearby speaker for intercom communication started. It was Cortana. "John?" She asked, "Have you found the Programming Module?"

"No," I said sighing, "Got in a bit of trouble. I'm still looking though. Just sit tight and try to fight the Rampancy."

"I will," She replied.

I reloaded my weapon. The Sentinels suddenly shot to the other side of the gap floating over the floor of the other part of the Dawn. They were all looking at me sputtering. A few went through a door. I didn't know what they were doing but I had to find this programming module. I ran and jumped to the other side. Before I landed all of the Sentinels zoomed through the door. I walked through it seeing the sentinels on the other side of the long hallway. Keeping my Assault Rifle at combat ready I walked down it watching the doors for another Gueta to come through. I went to open the first I came through and one of the sentinels got between me and the door. Sputtering it emitted something that pushed me back.

Not wanting to start a shoot out I didn't go near the door. Suddenly there were four sentinels carrying something with their white beams. It was a machine, a programming module! They hovered towards the door we came through. I followed curious. Why were the Sentinels being so friendly? What was happening? The Sentinels floated over the gap back to the other side. I jumped over to that side once again. The Sentinels didn't budge. What were they waiting on? I didn't know.

Perplexed I went through the door, towards Cortana. "I found it," I said to her as the Sentinels carefully lowered it down.

"Sentinels?" She asked perplexed, "What are they here for?"

"I don't know," I said just as perplexed, "They've been helping me for some reason. They found this module and brought it here, and saved me from a Gueta."

"A Gueta?" Cortana said, "I've been doing scans. This planet is obviously a Forerunner. Its environment and structure is similar to that of Installation 00. However there are many more buildings above ground than on the other Installations. And what is a Gueta doing on a planet like this?"

"We can worry about that later," I said holstering my gun, "Right now let's work on your system locks."

"Okay," She replied. I set up the programming module. By pressing a button a screen folded out from the main part revealing a keyboard and A.I interphase slot. I accessed UNSC A.I Compilation files and then accessed A.I programming files. Clicking on the A.I.R.B (A.I Ready Built) selection I then took Cortana from the Dawn's A.I Interphase console and placed her chip in the programming module. Her chip flashed red for a split second. She was about to lose control. I went through several procedures to lock her Rampant restraints as the Sentinels had all their robotic eye's on me. I went through processes on the module.

_{Access A.I Rampancy Protocol}_

_[System accessed]_

_[Enter ID and Code. . . . . ]_

_{Spartan- 117 (J154SIERAJOHN)}_

_[Enter designated name of Artificial Intelligence]_

_{CORTANA}_

_Cortana has interphased….ready to begin synching_

_[Synchronizing...]_

_[Synchronizing…]_

_[A.I designation: CORTANA has been fully synchronized.]_

_[Warning: A.I is showing signs of Rampancy.]_

_[Click Enter to lock Basic restraints]_

_{Enter}_

_[Click Enter to lock Basic Memory Functions on Rampancy]_

_{Enter}_

_[Locks are Activating]_

_[Standby]_

_[Standby]_

_[Standby]_

_[Finished]_

_[Locks are active….A.I has been secured and is threat level for Rampancy is Moderate]_

_[Recommend professional A.I programmer to restore locks fully]_

_[Releasing A.I Interphase chip]_

Cortana's A.I Chip came back out of the slot. I watched it for a minute to make sure she didn't go flash red. Judging by the Moderate threat level for probably Rampancy, I'd give it another year or so before she started it all over again. I interphased her into my MJOLNIR armor.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Yeah," Cortana said, "I'm feeling fine now. I don't like the Flood, especially the Gravemind."

"The feeling's mutual," I said looking around the room. There was nothing important just the sentinels. I walked towards the edge of the hanger towards the opening we all came flying in through a Warthog on the Halo. We had crash landed in a swampland that had a building on it. How we managed to hit the only triple tower building for miles is beyond me. But I saw a city like structure in the distance. Sentinels were floating everywhere. The sky was blue and had a sun to it. This one didn't look Artificial but I knew that most Forerunner Installations didn't either.

"What do we do now?" Cortana asked.

"I'm not sure," I answered hearing a loud screech that echoed. I pulled out my Assault Rifle and readied it. "But we'll figure out something." For better or worse, I was alive, so was Cortana. Did anyone else know we were alive? No, of course not. Being on this planet, nothing changed. I am Missing In Action…

…**.**

**A/N: The next chapter of MIA is being worked on now. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Please Review?**


	3. MIA Part 2: Unexpected Facts

**Part 2 of Chapter 3 is here. I've taken a break on this story due to college stuff. Read and review please!**

**Chapter 3: Missing in Action**

**Part 2: Unexpected Facts**

I looked out at the vast swampland. It reminded me of Reach almost. I heard another screech. It sounded like a Moa. Reach...Gueta….Moa….the clear skies and sunny atmosphere. The forest….spending time with my Spartans on down time….Sandra. I remembered all of the memories I had. The good, the bad, and the war. I stood there having memory lapses. Nothing but flashbacks.

I sighed calmly deciding what I was going to do. "I've decided what to do," I said truthfully.

Cortana's voice echoed slightly like we were in a cave. "What?" She asked.

"Find my missing Spartans," I said breathing still looking out at the swampy terrain.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Cortana agreed, "But how do you know they're out there?"

"Spartan instinct," I replied, "Plus, since the war's over. I figured I could waste time to find them.

"First," I said turning around, "We need to salvage anything we can from the ship. The weapons, food, medical supplies, anything that could prove useful."

"How are you going to carry it?" Cortana asked as I began looking around this hanger.

"Don't know if I can," I responded still looking around and my mind suddenly flashed an image. It was a woman's face, Sandra. "But I can't say I won't try."

"Understandable," She responded.

I didn't see anything important here except for the weapon boxes on the other side of the hanger. Deciding where to look next I made my way back to the other part of the ship and decided to search there. The Sentinels followed.

"I wonder why they follow you," Cortana said as I went through the door that was a part of the hallway the Sentinels brought me the programming module.

"I don't know," I responded. There was a door that was on the right side of the hallway. This was what looked like an unloading hanger. I went in and looked around. There was a Warthog slid on the other side of the hanger with a Gatling gun. There was also a Warthog Trailer near it. A Warthog trailer was a trailer with the coloration of a Warthog. It was used to haul extra supplies into combat when air drops weren't available. The trailer itself was about the length of the Warthog.

"That solves the carrying problem," I said.

"Don't forget we're a thousand meters up in the air," Cortana responded. My morale level dropped slightly. She seemed to sense this. "However," She said, "There was another part of the ship that was broken off. It was a Pelican Drop Bay and had four Pelican's in it. Each were prepped for supply drops."

"Where is that section at?" I asked determined, "Hell if we had one of those we could put everything salvageable in it and find a way off this planet and find my Spartans." I walked towards a large gap in the wall that showed the outside land again. Before I got close there was a loud sound like jet sound and a hum that sounded like a Covenant cruiser flying over. It shook the entire wreckage. I walked up closer to the gap to see what it was. There was a massive object flying over.

"What the hell is that?" I said slowly. This object was large enough to level a city if it wanted to. It had several twin cannons, about four it looked like. Its main body had an engine on it. It flew off towards the city in the distance. Another hovered down right in front of us. I got a better view of the design. It had a large robotic eye similar to a sentinel on each side, and it had a figure on the end of it like a building held up by metal rods. There were Robotic Eyes that were in a triangular form.

"An Enforcer?" Cortana asked.

"No….no," I replied praying it was on my side, "It's too big to be one of those. Name it?"

"We might better name it for later on," Cortana said.

"Juggernaut?" I asked as the one that stared us down hovered backwards and followed the other. It sputtered sounding content or something similar. It caused the building and the wreckage of the ship to vibrate and shake again. I heard what sounded like metal bending behind me. Then it snapped. A Mongoose was released from a Mongoose deployment unit. It rolled out towards the gap. There were five right behind it.

"Chief!" Cortana said, "We might be able to use them!"

"I'm on it," I said as two already rolled pass me out the gap. I holstered my rifle and grabbed the next by the passenger handle. There was another nearby and I grabbed it as well. The last hit me in the back almost knocking me down. I guess it's lucky I'm a Spartan.

"Uh Sentinels," I said looking at the few near me, "Could you give me a hand here?" Figured I'd try my luck. Suddenly all the Sentinels used their beams to grab the one's I had and the one behind me.

"They're obeying your orders," Cortana said sounding perplexed, "Why?"

I didn't answer her right away. "I don't know," I said truthfully then ordered them to place them near the Warthog in which they did as told. I searched the remaining part of the hanger. There were tools and parts for the vehicles. There were even mountable turrets for the Warthog which included an M68 Gauss Cannon and a M41 light Anti-Aircraft gun. Walking outside into the hallway I checked the other rooms. Crates of medical supplies, ammunition, and rations were in all of them. There was even another room full of weaponry boxes. I continued out a door at the end of the hall.

Walking through it I found that there was a large section of this section of the ship missing, the Pelican Drop Bay. I was at the other end of the Forerunner building but in a hollowed out missing part of it. Basically the room was gone thanks to this part of the Dawn. I walked in a sliding door and the Sentinels followed me still. There was a Forerunner type large elevator lift.

"Cortana," I said looking at the lift, "I think I can use a Mongoose now." I turned around and started back towards the vehicle depot.

"It would be faster than you walking," She commented. A few minutes later I was riding the lift to the ground floor with a mongoose right beside me. The lift stopped and a large door opened revealing the outside swampy world. I got on the mongoose, cranked it, and sped off. Sentinels were zooming in my direction avoiding the swampy vegetation and trees. They weren't flying in a straight path like they would unless they were turning a corner. They were flying like they were in a high speed tactical chase.

This swampy terrain was a bit hard to drive through but it was better than walking. "The first pelican is nearby," Cortana said, "It isn't active though." There was a loud covenant cruiser engine sound again. It was a Juggernaut sentinel flying over towards somewhere else. I looked up at it briefly before I drove around a large tree. I spotted the wrecked Pelican. I parked on the only dry spot I could find and walked towards the wreckage. The engines and wings were ripped off, the cockpit had a giant hole in the glass, and the rear bay door was bent open.

I waded through a knee deep watery area towards the rear of the pelican. There were boxes of medical supplies and food. "There's food in there," Cortana commented as I went in and started fixing up the boxes, "I know you're starving."

"I'll eat when I get out of here and find my Spartans." I responded flatly. I stacked the boxes on top of each other. "If we find a pelican that can fly," I said, "We'll come back for this stuff."

"I see," Cortana said, "That makes since." I walked back to my mongoose. All but two sentinels followed. The only two stayed on both ends of the Pelican, hovering. I drove on. The next pelican had nothing in it as with the next after that. I was starting to feel like this was wasting our time.

"The next two are relatively close to each other," Cortana said, "and I think they are still safely in a piece of the drop bay." We were on our way to the next two, me driving a little recklessly in anticipation. It wasn't usual for me to be that way but in the back of my mind, I worried that I was wasting my time, that the pelicans were all destroyed somehow.

"What's the catch?" I asked.

"It's five miles away and I'm picking up life forms between us and the wreckage," Cortana said, "Be careful John."

"Don't worry," I said confidently. I swerved just in time to miss a large boulder.

"Why would I?" Cortana replied sarcastically.

It was around four miles later that I decided to slow down for a little while. Everything was fine. Yes everything was fine until the sentinels went ballistic. They shook their metallic bodies like they were going rampant, similar to when the Spark went rampant and they turned on me.

"Chief!" Cortana said, "Movement! Their large!"

I heard a loud roar. It was Gueta. I had just enough time to jump off the Mongoose before a Gueta collided with the side of it. I landed in the middle of three of them. "A Gueta herd," Cortana said, "Females."

I pulled out my assault rifle saying, "I'd still like to know how Gueta got on this planet. Are you sure we're not on Reach?"

"Positive," Cortana said, "I wish you would've been going faster. We could've passed them and gotten to the Pelican."

"Let's just worry about staying alive first," I said as one came at me. I jumped to the side just in time. All the Gueta started roaring. I fired my machine gun at the head of it. There was a barrage of yellowish orange lasers shooting everywhere at the herd of Gueta. It was pandemonium. I had killed the first Gueta as the others were dropping left and right due to the sentinels firing beams. The surviving Gueta fled with a few sentinels behind them. I reloaded my Assault rifle and walked over to the destroyed mongoose.

"Great," I said sighing in disappointment, "I liked that one." I holstered my Assault rifle.

"Come on chief," Cortana said, "We don't want to waste any more time."

"Right," I responded turning to walk towards my current objective, "It's only a mile walk. How bad can it be?"

"Don't forget that they could be useless," Cortana said, "I'm not one hundred percent sure they're intact."

"Do me a favor," I said walking with the Sentinels still tailing me, "You are reminding me of Kelly. Stop it." Kelly had a cynical sense of humor. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I didn't, but I did recall that every now and then she had to take medicine or she became silly. Well, for a Spartan that is.

"Kelly?" Cortana asked, "One of your Spartan friends? Oh yeah! What about Sandra?"

"What about her?," I said in a monotone voice trying to keep Cortana from pursuing a conversation about her. Cortana was a female based smart A.I. Even though she was A.I she was still feminine, and she could become jealous.

"We share the same head," Cortana said, "at the moment that is. I can hear you thinking about her every now and then. Why?"

"It's nothing," I lied.

"You're lying," Cortana said in an annoying voice.

"It's private," I said then added, "in a human way." Did I just call myself human? I was a Spartan. And Cortana could hear my thoughts apparently.

"But you're a Spartan," She said confused, "emotions are not tolerated are they?"

I sighed. "You'd think you'd know the exact details on Spartans," I said.

"I do," Cortana said, "It doesn't mean I know what it's like."

"Okay," I said, "Do you understand concepts with the emotions?"

Cortana didn't answer right away. I hopped over a large exposed root. It seemed that she was thinking about something, I could faintly hear her but I decided that I'd concentrate on my movement.

"No," She finally said. She was a "smart" A.I yet she didn't comprehend the concept with emotions. Yet she would sometimes feel anger, annoyance, jealousy, sadness, and remorse. It was in her programming. I knew that when an A.I became rampant, they would feel anger and lust. Cortana had been on the verge of rampancy just a few hours ago. She was resisting the urge to do anything she wanted. An A.I would've been uncontrollable by then.

"I'll explain," I said, "No human can stop feeling emotions, no matter how much they try. Our Spartan trainers taught us to ignore them and try to suppress them. We always feel emotions no matter the circumstance. Even elites do, though they deny it. Their culture is about honor."

"So then what kind of emotions do you feel when you think about the other Spartans and uh Sandra?" Cortana asked sounding curious. I could see she wasn't letting this go.

"It's complicated," I said, "It's like growing attached to something."

"Attachment isn't an emotion," Cortana said blankly.

"I know," I replied, "But it's the closest thing I could come up with."

"So you're keeping something from me?" Cortana said, "And not a very good job of it. Base on calculations and the memory impulses you're having, you miss them all, especially Sandra. Except that your memories of her are stronger. And I just noticed that your heart rate had skipped a little bit."

"Uh," was all I could say at that last statement.

"Hmm," she uttered, "It's only logic that you love her. That's what I was able to conclude. Am I correct?"

I sighed miserably as I walked over a fallen tree. Why did she have to be a "smart" A.I? Why couldn't she just be smart and not intervene in my private thoughts? I couldn't hide this from her, so I might as well tell her.

"Yes," I said, "But it's been a long time since I have seen her."

"How do you even know they're all alive?" Cortana asked quickly, "They were on Onyx, they probably either killed or captured."

Her words were probable but they were also something I couldn't ignore. "Cortana," I said finally, "Do me a favor and listen."

"I can't help but not to listen," she replied.

"I've been doing nothing but fighting a war most of my life," I said, "I've taken orders until the very end. For once, I'd like to do something on my own, without being ordered to. This is something I want to do before we try to find our way home."

"I see," she responded, "Well then I guess I can't argue with you. By the way we've only got one mile left." I didn't even realize how fast I was going. I must've been jogging. To a human, it may have looked like a full out run if I would jog. Since this armor was heavy, sprinting tired us out quickly.

The wreckage of the drop bay was definitely intact. I stood at the base of a cliff. The drop bay was at the very top. I began to climb it. The sentinels were just floating lazily to the top. It wasn't hard climbing up either, just a slight pressure of the gravity. I slung myself over on the cliff as I reached the top. The bay was wrecked but it wasn't in horrible condition. I walked in through a hole. There was a massive hole in the side big enough for the Pelicans to fit through, if they were flyable. I looked around and there they were, both tucked in separate landing pits.

"Cortana," I said about to tell her to check the condition of them. "Put me in," She said immediately. I took her chip out of my suit and put it into an interphasing slot.

"Both are in good condition," Cortana said through an intercom speaker, "They're fully charged and fueled.

"It's a shame to see one go wasted," I said looking at them.

"What are you suggesting?" Cortana asked.

I looked at her chip that was still in the slot. "Can you fly stick?" I asked simply.

"Wait chief," She responded sounding shocked, "I can't fly and operate the weapons the same time!"

"You won't be operating weapons," I said, "We're not at war so you could just pilot the pelicans. If anything happens I'll send the sentinels to aid you."

Cortana was silent for a second. "I don't like it chief," She said sounding reluctant, "But okay."

"I'll let you synchronize with the first and unlock the clamps," I said, "Pilot it out through there." I pointed at the large gap in the wall. "But is there anything here we can use?"

"Repair parts and tools," Cortana said, "It seems that these Pelicans were prepped to drop of specialized supplies. What were you all doing on installation 00 to have pelicans prepped like this?"

"Well," I said, "Lord Hood ordered me to lead a small taskforce of ODST's on the ground to secure a landing zone. Once we moved in and cleared one, we had the _Forward Unto Dawn_ come down as quick as possible for a heavy vehicular drop that consisted of several scorpion tanks and warthogs. We made our way to the cartographer through Covenant that was trying to fortify themselves. Once we got through to find the control room, we fought our way to it in an all out assault. Some Pelicans were used as support and troop transport while others were used in supply drops. The empty Pelican's we passed on the way here had weapon insertion pods that were deployed on the Ark. There was also an air assault operation as we attempted to reach the Prophet of Truth in the control room. What wasn't shot down was transported back here I'm guessing. That air battle involved a large taskforce between our Hornets and Pelicans with the Separatists Phantoms and Banshee's against the Covenants Phantoms and Banshee's with ground anti-air support. We were backed up by the Separatist ship masters carrier on the ark. We went through a lot of Covenant getting to the control room. I had to take down two Scarab's with a Hornet. The Arbiter and I were dropped in on top and went to destroy the core."

"Sounds like it was the Covenants final stand," Cortana responded.

"It was," I said remembering the battle like it was only five minutes ago, "But let's get going. I'm anxious enough as that is, weird for me to be that way too."

After inserting her into the Pelican interphasing slot she started the pelican up and I unlocked the restraints. She slowly but surely hovered out the large hole. I unlocked the restraints on the second one and got in through the rear deployment door. Four sentinels followed me in while the others shot off out the large hole. I turned on the engines and made the pelican lift up into hovering mode. I made it rotate and I hovered forward out the large hole.

"I'll follow you," I said, "Head towards the first pelican we came across. I'll see if I can land."

"Alright," She responded and her pelican sped off back towards the way we came. I flew right behind her. It took about ten minutes to arrive there. I could see the tower we crashed in from where we were at.

"I've marked the location on your radar," Cortana said.

"I see it," I responded, "I'm going to try and hover over the wreckage and put it on autopilot."

"You would need me to do that," Cortana announced, "That won't work."

That put an end to that idea. I sighed trying to come up with something. It was hard coming up with a way to get the supplies when there was nowhere to land on the ground. I circled the area looking around for a landing spot. Cortana was circling around higher above my own pelican. I looked back in the cargo hold. The sentinels were just floating looking plain as day. I found my solution.

"Hey sentinels," I ordered, "Go and bring those supplies I stacked up inside with us." I opened the back hatch. They immediately shot out like bullets and floated down to the ground. _I cannot believe this is happening._

Within a few minutes the sentinels came back up with the supply boxes using their levitation beams. I closed the hatch. "Alright Cortana," Let's head to the towers we crashed in." We both piloted our pelicans that way.

As we came to it Cortana asked, "Hey chief, how do you think those Gueta got twenty thousand feet on the towers?"

"When you can calculate those odds," I said as she circled the towers, "you can tell me. I'll land this at the base of the towers and let you stay up here so I can start loading. Okay?"

"Alright," She said, "Hurry up." I hovered the Pelican down and found a spot where it could land. I turned off the engines and climbed out the back. The sentinels followed.

"No," I ordered them, "Stay here and guard this pelican from anything that wants to harm it." They all sputtered in response and then made a perimeter around it.

I took the lift back up and over to where everything was packed and ready. There were several sentinels floating around mindlessly. Why were they listening to me? Why weren't they trying to kill me like on installation 00? Why were they protecting me and Cortana? These questions were some of the one's I wanted answers.

With the help of the sentinels all the Mongooses and a few weapon boxes were loaded onto Cortana's Pelican. We switched pelicans afterwards, her being the one that landed now. She piloted it back up and I loaded the rest of the weapon and ammo crates into her new one. I then used the heavy load cable and attached it to the warthog. She flew off with the Warthog attached. I made my way down to the landed pelican. I hovered up to Cortana's altitude.

"Where are we going?" Cortana asked over the transmitter.

"Hang on," I said, "Sentinels lead us to the Cartographer." The sentinels that were flying shot forward towards the city. We followed. The city was much larger than I thought it was. There were streets wide enough to fit a Juggernaut. Other than sentinels, the city was virtually empty. We flew in behind a Juggernaut. It was flying loudly down the street. The sentinels that were leading us pulled off onto another street. There was a large platform similar to one on the arc. It reminded me of the one's that I fought Brutes with jump packs on. Cortana and I landed side by side. I walked over and retrieved Cortana.

"Welcome back," I said as a flock of sentinels passed by. This flock was the size of a blue whale. There was a loud humming sound that sounded like it was passing us. Cortana was silent. I followed the sentinels for some time through halls, up ramps, and a ride on a large gondola. Sentinels were everywhere. There were millions flying in every direction as we rode the Gondola. On the other side of the massive interior of the building was a balcony like place that had one door to it. I walked in only to go down another long hallway.

"Forerunners have some amazing architecture don't they?" Cortana asked.

"Absolutely," I said as we walked through the door at the very end of the hall. Then it was like I was back on the Ark. The Cartographer looked just like the one on the ark only that the machinery had a spherical shape to it and instead of a waterfall in the distance there was a large shipyard full of Juggernaut Sentinels and more of the city.

There were controls on a console that was right in front of the large spherical space. I inserted Cortana and she seemed exhilarated as she sighed for some reason. She was silent for some time. "Cortana?" I asked.

"Chief," She said, "I know why the sentinels aren't attacking us. Why they are protecting us and obeying you!"

"Why?" I asked confused.

"You are Forunner!" She announced.

**The next chapter will be up soon and did this surprise you? Please review and tell me what you think.**


	4. Spartans are never KIA, They're MIA

**Okay first of all, this one will have one heck of a twist to it. I'm pretty sure you won't see it coming. Let's just say that Forerunners are freaking awesome and that Spartans Never die, They're just Missing in Action. Please Read and Review. It would be much appreciated.**

**Chapter 4: Spartan's aren't KIA, They're MIA.**

My mind went wild with more questions. I couldn't believe it. How could I, a Spartan, be a Forunner? I wasn't five billion years old, I couldn't be. It was ridiculous for her to say something like that. I shook my head. There was no way that was possible.

"Cortana," I said, "Are you joking about this?" Her image appeared on the Cartographer, three times the size of me.

She shook her head. "No Chief," She said, "I promise on my programming I'm not."

I looked away pacing towards one side of the cartographer then stopped. "This can't be right," I said looking back at her then striding back pass my original standing point.

"I assure you," Cortana said following my movements, "Nothing can be further from the truth. You are a Forerunner!"

"How can I be a forerunner?" I asked her standing on the other side now, "I'm not that old Cortana!" That had to be the first time I had raised my voice at her, or, the first time ever.

"Chief calm down," Cortana asked of me, "The events that have transpired involving you prove it. You were marked as a Reclaimer during your mission to stop the Covenant and the Flood. You succeeded and were awarded the new owner of Forerunner Technology. I can access documents on your birth lineage. The Forerunners used cyronation processes to keep sentient life on preserve in case they ever used the Halo Array including their own. After its activation the sentient species would be launched to decyronize on a planet. Your ancestors was one of the only Forerunners alive back then, they were mixed in with humans, their memory wiped like everyone of course. When the colonies on other planets sprung up your ancestors moved to the planet Eridanus II. You were then selected to become a Spartan."

I shook my head again. "It's been a long time Cortana," I said staring out at the shipyard, "I don't remember my short childhood while I wasn't a Spartan. And right now, I'm glad I don't."

"Chief," Cortana said as I looked at her. She became to be my height. "Don't tell me you can't be a Forerunner Descendant. It may seem impossible, but now everything makes sense. Your heritage name was wiped from existence when you became a Spartan, Mendicant Bias logged his acquaintance with you. Remember when you told me you had found consoles all around the Ark and you read them? I was not able to interpret them, but you were. You can read the Forerunner symbols. Mendicant Bias told you he could see you. It was watching you then entire time you were on the Ark. When Spark decided to betray you, it logged you in the sentinels' targeting parameters. But you got away safely, and Mendicant Bias marked you as Forerunner." Her image walked towards me.

"How do you know all of this is real?" I asked frustrated, "How do you know that you aren't being tricked in all of this?" I was looking at her.

"Because," Cortana said, "Look at this.' Her image disappeared and instead a Genealogy Tree appeared. It was in Forerunner alphabet, I saw my fathers name, then my Spartan name. Cortana was right, I could read Forerunner. I started, "That's-"

"Your family," Cortana said, "All are marked as Forunner. Your dad is incapacitated, while your mother is alive on Earth."

"I was told she died," I said but I didn't feel any emotion on the subject. She was just a memory, I belonged to the UNSC now.

"No," Cortana said, "She's eighty four years old and lives on Earth in the United States. But back to the topic, I can't tell you how true it is that you are a Forerunner."

I looked at the Genealogy tree again. There was no mistaking it. Seth was my father and had a last name I didn't care to mention. Cortana was correct, I was a Forerunner. I leaned forward on the ledge as Cortana's image appeared once again but my height. "Do you believe me?" She asked blinking.

I looked up at her. "I have no choice," I said accepting the reality, "The evidence is unmistakable. I am a Forerunner." Cortana sighed sounding relieved. "But," I continued, "I'm a Spartan II, I can't ignore I am property of the United Nations Space Command. Cortana, I don't know what to do! I don't know if I can trust the Forerunner's leftover technology. What if they turn on us?"

"You are their master," Cortana said, "You tell them what to do." We both watched a flock of Sentinels fly by then turned back to each other.

"Then why did they attack me on my previous missions when I was on the Halo's and the Ark?" I asked. I admit I the evidence with the genealogy tree had me convinced but the hostile intentions of the sentinels in the War was not something I could overlook.

"343 Guilty Spark had logged you into the Sentinels Targeting Parameters," Cortana said, "In case you would survive and escape the destruction of Halo. He knew who you were and he was becoming more unstable accepting that fact. He was jealous when you first met him and then tried to kill you. Afterwards when you met again confirming the existence of the Ark he decided to become allies to find another installation 04 to take care of. It was all a ruse so you couldn't inherit this technology."

She had an excellent way with words. It was making sense now. Spark did try to kill me after he realized that I was trying to destroy the flood and Installation 04b. Maybe that was why the sentinels went berserk on me as we tried to escape. I went over everything in my head, it all made sense. Cortana was right, I was a Forerunner and I had inherited their technology.

"Cortana," I said accepting my fate, "There's no denying the evidence of my birth lineage. But I don't exist, other than my Spartan status. As far as I'm concerned I have put my UNSC duties on hold, as well as whatever duties I have with being Forerunner on hold until I find answers about any survivors from Onyx."

Cortana looked at me smiling. "Very well," She said disappearing and a hologram of a planet appeared. "This is the planet of Sacrates, the Forerunners secret home world. It was abandoned by Forerunners when the Flood outbreak was an issue. They used the guise of another planet as their home world hoping that a descendant would find this one. The guised planet was obviously destroyed in the conflict. We are in this city and on the Cartographer area." There was a marker on the giant display of the planet. I walked around to the console. "We crashed here and here's the Pelican drop bay." Icons where the crash was and the pelican crash landings happened appeared. "This city is a Sentinel Construction city. The tower we crashed into was one of many research towers."

"What was the research for?" I asked.

"Swamp life," Cortana said simply, "That's why Gueta were everywhere. It seems that forerunners had been distributing Gueta on Reach before humans colonized it."

"That explains a lot," I commented.

"Yes it does," Cortana said, "But the capitol of Sacrates is here." A marker on the planet appeared on the Equator. "That's where everything on the planet is overseen."

"Well let's get going," I said.

"Agreed," Cortana commented. I took her out of the Cartographer and put her in my interphase slot. We made our way back down to where we left our Pelicans and piloted them towards the capitol city.

The trip there was long. We had sentinel escorts as well. Around a hundred sentinels and four juggernaut sentinels. I thought this was unnecessary but Cortana insisted in case there was an aerial attack from research species or remnants of the covenant. This made no sense at all to me. First the Covenant was destroyed and second I had weapon systems I could defend myself with. I wasn't some helpless civilian. And what were the chances that something like that would take place? Zero in my book or a very low point five percent.

It took nearly four hours to even get close to the capitol city. I spotted it near along the horizon. This city was ten times larger than Sacrates. Its towers looked like it reached the orbit and there were tall walls with some kind of turrets on them. They looked like beam turrets. There were also a lot of stationary automated turrets.

They looked menacingly as we passed over them. The Juggernaut Sentinels broke off and the sentinels lead us through a maze of streets. These streets weren't full of sentinels. It was unearthly quiet like I was in the wilderness. We landed in a hanger near the tallest tower. The tower was definitely large. The halls were standard design only they had blue data streams along the wall. I walked towards a lift and travelled up it. "What will we find here?" I asked Cortana.

"The forerunner had a leader like a president," She said, "Here you can track anything Forerunner related, in the office of course. I downloaded information in my memory banks."

When we were on the highest floor there was only one door. It opened revealing a large study-room like place. There were consoles everywhere and a small cartographer. There were monitoring systems everywhere and a large glass wall. There was one desk and some kind of oval shaped chair.

"This is pretty impressive," I remarked.

"Yes it is," Cortana said agreeing with me, "Look at those replicas."

There were seven rings that were about twelve inches in diameter on a console with a diorama of the Ark behind them. There was a large screen behind them flipping between images of different rings, but there were only six rings in the images. Before I could look around any further the door behind me slid close and the outlines turned red. I was locked in. "Insert me into that slot," Cortana said. I did as told.

I pulled out my assault rifle looking around. Was it a trap? I wasn't taking any chances. "It's okay chief," Cortana said, "I came here hoping to find answers on the Spartans. But before any of that can happen, you have to do something first."

"What?" I asked lowering my weapon.

"You have to do something about the Halo Array," Cortana said.

"What?" I asked, "Destroy it?"

"That can be arranged," Cortana said, "But they will just start rebuilding. You have to do whatever involves the rings first."

"Like what?" I asked stupidly, "Is there some martial law on this?"

"If you want out," Cortana said simply, "or use the monitoring system."

"Are you stopping me?" I asked, "Or my ancestors?"

"Your ancestors," Cortana said, "Created a law that when a descendant entered this room for the first time, they had to improve one quality about the halo array but weaken it in another way."

"No offense to my ancestors," I said, "But humans and their creations have a lot more common sense today. Forerunners are so complex. Or they lacked common sense."

"No," Cortana said absently, "They're just logical."

"Or aggravating," I said. Did I just say that? I was starting to feel like my Spartan lifestyle was slipping away. I had to get my act together.

"Look Chief," Cortana said, "We can argue all day but the fact is that we can't leave until you do something with the Halo Relay."

"Okay then," I said randomly coming up with something, "Add beam turrets that can protect its orbit and deactivate all of the Halo's Primary firing mechanism?"

"That would be acceptable," Cortana said simply.

"Wait," I said, "I can have that happen?"

"Yes," Cortana said, "The only thing is that every Installation needs to have a Monitor. Like Spark. The one's who were not destroyed by you are still alive and are marked as highly unstable."

"Is there a way to create new ones? I asked, "And somehow get rid of the older ones?"

"Yes," Cortana said, "But it will be tricky. Sending signals to the sentinels to eliminate them will be difficult without the Spark's knowing. That's the only way I see it happening. Oh you need two personal Sparks for yourself."

Everything went crashing down like a Pelican dropping from the sky from fuel loss. "I don't think that's a good idea," I said.

"You have no choice," Cortana said.

"Fine," I said, "Make it happen."

"I can show you how," Cortana said, "But I can't do it. Only you can make these changes."

I sighed now annoyed with the event that were unfolding. So I spent the next thirty minutes the Halo Array console. There were symbols on a holographic screen. I could read them though. I began typing. Thank god it was in the Spartan Curriculum.

_Deactivate Halo Array's Primary Weapons systems._

_Begin construction on Particle Beam Cannon's for self defense._

_Sentinels: Activate Monitor Replacement Sequence._

_Begin Construction on Monitor Replacements._

_Activate Synchronization._

Suddenly the console had a bluish glow to it then the Halo Array replica turned blue. I looked at them. "It's happening," Cortana said, "Millions of Sentinels are tracking down the Monitors and are destroying them now. Here is the Surveillance."

On another screen A Monitor who had its optic camera red was doing something with a console. It turned around to be face to face with twenty Sentinels.

"_What!" It demanded. The sentinels opened fire. The Monitor yelled before exploding._

There were twenty more Monitors meeting their fate along the way. Each time a monitor was destroyed a little blip on a screen went off.

"There are no monitors active now," Cortana said, "Their replacements are being built and programmed. The only thing is that you need to put some kind of DNA in this. There was a small glass capsule with the end open, in the middle of a small console. "A hair would be just fine."

I holstered my assault rifle, pressed a pad on my neck part of my helmet and took it off. "So that's what you look like," Cortana said, "I've only gotten images of your eyes when I'm interphased with you." I easily plucked a hair and put it into the capsule. The capsule's end closed and sank into the console leaving a hole where it came out at.

"Why was my DNA needed?" I asked putting my helmet back on.

"To make sure they obeyed you," Cortana said, "They recognize your DNA upon scanning you. Plus your assistant Monitors have to have them to know how you act and your intentions. It makes working with you easier."

I caught onto something about the last sentence she said but I didn't pursue the subject. I waited for nearly five minutes. "All Monitors have been fully constructed and programmed," Cortana said, "I am relaying the message to Mendicant Bias for the changes. He will acknowledge the changes."

There was a hologram that appeared on a square console. It looked like a computer mainframe with an optic eye. "Master," It said, "I am Mendicant Bias. The A.I charged with the functioning of Installation 00. I recognize you from the battle that damaged my assigned Installation."

I really hope this thing did not want to take revenge. I had to say something to keep it from firing the Halo's. "I'm sorry," I said, "I had to get rid of the flood once and for all."

"I understand," Mendicant Bias said, "But my resources are thin. I have enough resources to reconstruct installation 00 but not enough to create Installation 04c. I must urge you that even if your array's main firing systems are offline, there must be seven rings."

"Maybe you can help me then," I said. After all I was already deeper than I wished to be in, but that was something I was going to have to live with. "Is there any resources need that are near my location?"

"The closest resource depot," Mendicant Bias said, "Is on the planets moon. You are a descendant of my makers. I know that you aren't familiar with their customs. I urge you to research on this. Also if you can, I would like for you to restore my Rampancy lockdown systems back to normal. I've done too much harm as it is to your ancestors. That's why I forgive you for firing the premature installation 04b, causing it to destroy the Flood and itself but also damaging my Installation."

I looked at the hologram thinking to myself. How did I get in this? Why did I have to be the descendant of Forerunners? I was used to war, surviving, and keeping my mouth shut. Not inheriting some ancient technology that can wipe out life in a blink of an eye. I sighed. I couldn't escape this, no matter how fast I was, no matter how cunning I was, no matter if I already belonged to the UNSC. The fact was this wasn't leaving me alone.

"I'll tell you what Mendicant Bias," I said standing still, "I promise I'll find a way to get the materials to the Ark. But as of now, until I find other uh, reclaimers that wear armor like me, I won't do anything else. They're like my family."

Mendicant Bias didn't say anything at first but did after it calculated something. "Very well," Mendicant Bias said, "I'll begin construction on Installation 00. I'll wait patiently for more resources." The hologram disappeared.

The door outline had turned back to normal. "Well the door is unlocked," Cortana said, "So we can leave."

"Not yet," I said, "I want to know where my Spartans are."

"Okay," Cortana said, "Let's see. I'm looking at surveillance involving the Human-Covenant war seeing if there are any Spartans alive. I found a surviving squad, Team Black." That gave me some hope. "I've got more surveillance and what's this? There's a distress beacon. I've found the Spirit of Fire." My mouth dropped.

"That's the ship that was lost during the battles of Arcadia and Harvest correct?" I asked.

"Yes," Cortana said, "The survivors are in Cyro-stasis. There are three surviving Spartans."

I was definitely relieved. "I've got more Spartans but I can't get a good visual on them. There are three of them wearing gray armor," She said.

"Gray team," I answered, "They were so far behind enemy lines fighting the Covenant that they couldn't be recalled. I hope they're not fighting Elites."

"Me too," Cortana said then sounded shocked, "and I'm picking up another Spartan squad. There's no way. It's Noble team! I thought they were dead on Reach."

"They are," I said, "Are you sure it's them?"

"Positive," Cortana said.

"I guess it's true with them," I said, "Spartans never die. They're Missing In Action. Where are they?"

"Somewhere on a moon," Cortana said, "That's shocking. They went missing in action one by one. How did they survive serious injuries? The original Noble six isn't with them, but I got a fix on him too."

"What the hell is going on?" I asked dumbfounded, "What's happening?"

"I wish I knew," Cortana replied, "But wait. This can't be happening." She sounded almost scared. "I don't believe it. No, no, no. I've got another signal. It's Sam!"

"There's no way," John said, "I watched him sacrifice himself. Cortana stop with the sick jokes!"

"I promise on my programming I'm not. I'm getting signals from all over the galaxy," Cortana said, "Chief this is too much. All of these signals are Spartans. How're they alive?"

My mind and heart was racing way worse than when I was told I was a Forerunner. This was definitely impossible. Noble Team and Fred were dead. How is this happening? Was the Forerunner's A.I trying to manipulate me? This can't be right. It couldn't. Noble Team had died on Reach along with half of the Spartan II candidates. This wasn't right. It couldn't be right, it was impossible. I didn't know what to think any more. This couldn't be happening.

"Every Spartan in the Galaxy," Cortana said, "The ones who survived their augmentations, are alive. This is causing a lot of stress on my programming and logical output. I see James sitting on a rocky plain."

She had no room to talk. I felt more insane than she did. They were like my brothers and sisters, no one could feel the same bond as we Spartans had together, no one. We were all the same, super soldiers trained for War. No one could understand our emotions and bond with each other. But yet comrades I thought were dead, the ones I knew died and were labeled MIA, were supposedly alive and well like they were waiting for something. How could I accept their fate?

"I've figured it out," Cortana said, "We've stopped in time Chief. We are in a time that see's everything from our past." I looked at her. That could be right either. You can't just stop time. It was impossible.

"We can save them," She said, "and they'll live. Even the one's who aren't dead yet. I've found them Chief. Sandra and a large group of Onyx survivors. They're in a Dison Sphere in slipspace. I see Kurt too. He didn't die for some reason. He's alive, those nukes should've obliterated him. Spartan III's are alive. The three hundred that were deployed on onyx are alive."

"That's impossible," I said, "Onyx exploded! What ones weren't killed by the Covenant were killed in that explosion!"

"The one's in the dyson sphere are right here," Cortana said. On the screen were recordings of Spartans in some kind of tower room. There was Fred, Kurt, Linda, Dr. Hasley, Sandra, and several Spartan III's. They were talking about the Dyson Sphere.

Kelly looked like she was making fun of Sandra and Linda, but was soon hushed up by Sandra's words. I laughed slightly. Kelly had missed her yearly medicine.

"Cortana," I asked lifelessly, "Is there a way to save them? All of them?"

Cortana didn't answer right away. "Yes," She said heavily, "Even the ones who were known to be dead. There's a ship that the Forerunners made. It is the largest ship in existence. It's called _Fate of Faith._"

**Once again I have to cut this short. I don't have a lot of time on my hands. But did you see this coming? I want to hear what you think, good or bad. And I've got a hunch of what you might be thinking.**


	5. Putting Inheritance to use

**A/N: Okay this one will probably seem a little more advanced than Halo Universe. But I can balance it out. Read and enjoy. I've gotten many author and story alerts. I've also gotten a few reviews as well. Thanks to all. And I hope you will still enjoy this. Please Read and Review.**

**Chapter 5: Putting inheritance to Use**

I tried to recount all the things that had happened today. First, I woke up crash landed on this planet, not knowing where I was or what was going on elsewhere. Second, I go through two Gueta that had somehow found their way up on a tower with the _Forward Unto Dawn's_ wreckage on it, to find a Rampancy Lockdown console for Cortana. Third, I had to gather equipment and figure out a way to transport it. Fourth, once finding two pelican's and collecting the equipment and supplies we flew to a city called Sacrates to learn what planet we were on. I also find out I'm the last descendant of the Forerunners. And Fifth, I come to the capitol city of this Forerunner planet to stop a major threat to the Galaxy and find out my Spartan Comrades can be saved from deaths and that I've stopped in time somehow. All in all, it's been a messed up day.

"The Fate of Faith?" I asked finally, "That's the name of the ship?"

"Yes," Cortana said, "Here's the Ships Schematics." A large holographic image of a Forerunner ship appeared. It was long and had the same geometric shape as Forerunner buildings. There was a massive circular gap in the center though. I didn't know what that was for. Cortana answered that for me though.

"That large gap," She said, "Is a large hanger that could've fit three Covenant Assault cruisers in it." High charity was destroyed when I had fired the premature ring.

That shocked me more than anything. "What the hell is it?" I asked trying not to imagine the size of it.

"A ship," Cortana replied simply.

"I knew that," I responded, "I meant what's it for?"

"It was the Forerunner's incomplete flagship," Cortana said, "With amazing properties. First it has a weapons system similar to halo only it can only target a certain radius at a time. The anything in the targeted radius is destroyed but the ship takes nearly three weeks to recharge. Second, it has a time flux slipspace generator that can go back in time and back to the time it left, which alone is tricky. It can only do up to one hundred years. The thing you have to worry about is distorting the future. Third, it has stealth technology beyond anyone's imagination. You could be staring into space but be looking right through the ship. It can even temporarily re-direct space travel for ships in hyperspace. Forth, no matter what you try, it cannot hold any other weapon system than the one it already has. Not to mention that once you fire you can't go stealth but can only travel a few intervals in hyperspace or return home to recharge in an instant. Fifth, somehow it can accommodate any life form in what they need to breathe."

I have no idea how long it took for this to take in but it couldn't have taken as long as the Covenant war. I was still stuck at, how have we stopped in time? That little question was turning out to be a mind blowing problem.

"Whoa whoa wait," I said trying to comprehend all of this, "Before you tell me anything else, how have we stopped in time and why are the Spartans still alive?"

"Aren't you happy for the Spartans?" Cortana asked.

Was she being serious? "Of course I am," I said defensively.

"I mean they're like you aren't they?" Cortana said.

"We're getting off the subject," I said, "At this point I want to know how."

"I'm not sure," Cortana said, "We came in through slip space and was dumped out here. But this planet, the surrounding moons and the other planet is completely stopped in time. I'm not sure how though."

"I can answer that," A voice came from behind. It was a monitor, no two monitors. One was behind the other. They looked similar to Spark but instead of silver metal plating they had olive green plating.

"Mendicant Bias," It said, "wanted to reward you with the location of your ancestor's home world in case you survived the events you were about to create. This was the firing of the premature halo and ridding the galaxy of the flood. To get you here he programmed constructor sentinels to tamper with the Forward Unto Dawn's navigation systems. Unfortunately the Sangheili that was traveling with you tried to enter slipspace to Earth. He made it there but the extreme pressure of the two navigated coordinates caused the ship to split in two. It was luck you were on the half that would take you here. We are in what humans call a Dyson Sphere, one that is miniaturized."

I looked at the little Monitor. "You were born ten minutes ago," I said, "How do you know so much already?"

"I gave them all the information they needed," Cortana said, "and they seem to have downloaded extra stuff into their programming, courteously of Mendicant Bias. By the way Chief, these two are your assistant Monitors."

"Functions?" I asked them simply.

"To assist you in day to day upkeep of Forerunner technology," The one behind the first said, "We can relay information to each other at anytime."

"That's good," I said, "What are your designations?"

"We don't have any," The first said.

"That's my fault Chief," Cortana said, "I only had the sparks programmed them and didn't have time to give them names. I can relay their designations now if you want."

I thought about it. "Okay," I said, "For the halo array use the first letter in Halo and the numbered installation they're assigned to. For the others, come up with random ones because I don't have time to name them one by one. These two are A1 and AA."

"I'm on it," Cortana responded.

As she finished I looked at the recordings of my Spartans. The Onyx Spartans were all drifting in space lifelessly. I wondered how I could save them. The only thing I knew was to ram the main fleet or something. I'd get them somehow.

"Cortana," I asked, "Where is the _Fate of Faith_?"

"Two thousand miles from here," Cortana said, "in the largest shipyard in existence."

"Well let's get going," I said taking her out.

"Sir," Monitor A1 said, "I'll stay behind to help you from here. AA will go with you."

"Alright," I said, "let's go."

A few hours later we were flying towards a large building that stretched for miles. "Where's the ship at?" I asked Cortana.

"That is the ship," She responded.

"This is one of the most prized possessions you can have if you're a descendant of your ancestors," Monitor AA said, "There's a small hanger near the main docking bay. I'll signal the ship to open the hanger doors. I could see than the large circular docking bay had closed up somehow. I saw the hanger near it open up. We got closer and closer until we slowed down for landing. The hanger was big enough to fit four pelicans in it itself. The hanger doors closed as we landed.

"Does this ship have an AI?" I asked Monitor AA.

"No," It replied, "If this ship was complete when it should have been then your ancestors could've wiped out the Flood and travel back to the safety of their home world."

"I can control the ship," Cortana responded, "Monitor AA can fire the main weapon if needed."

"Well get to it," I said putting Cortana in an interphasing slot. I felt the ship power up. There's a mission strategy area up on the second area. I looked up and overlooking the hanger was high tech machinery. There was some kind of gravity lift. I got on it and I was sent up on the platform. There were screens and a square holomap. "Can I see our targets?" I asked.

"Yes," Cortana said, "And chief there's something else you need to see."

"What?" I asked.

"The Forerunners have a rapid deployment device," She answered, "This device is on the other side of the hanger on the platform." I spotted it. There were three mechanical arms that form a three way arch. There was also a targeting system and four tubes that something can be loaded in them.

"How does it work?" I asked instantly.

"It's like a Forerunner teleportation grid," Cortana said, "You can target a zone to launch four transponders and one by one the people in it will materialize in the ark area and be forced out so the next can come in. If you're inside the transponders perimeter you will be teleported in. You can also send units down to the transponders."

"You know what," I said nostalgically, "I'll be amazed if the forerunners haven't found a way to travel to other galaxies."

"It's possible," Cortana said, "The Forerunners were smarter than anyone alive today. They've figured out how to do anything they had ever wanted in the galaxy. Even involving the Flood outbreak, which would've been solved with this ship, they proved higher intelligence."

"Where first?" Cortana asked, "If we want to save all the Spartans we have to do it now."

"Let's go to Onyx," I said, "Before the first Spartan died. Do you have information on the Spartans?"

"I was created to monitor a lot of activity," Cortana said, "I know where every last Spartan is or was when they died. I also know the outcome of all the battles and casualties. I suggest we start with Team Gladius."

"Who are they?" I asked.

"They are a five man team of Spartan III's of Gamma Company in the Spartan III program being trained by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose," Cortana responded, "They were attacked by Onyx Sentinels, no doubt set to standby mode because of the destruction of a Halo." She was silent for a second. Then sounded astounded once more, "Chief I just figured out that if you intervene with the past, say saving someone from death, the person you saved will split in two different people. The one who died will look like it does normally but the other of the same person is still alive."

"Wait what?" I asked ten times more confused.

"Okay," Cortana said, "If you distort events, like saving someone from death in time travel, time will create a copy of the supposed person who died moments later. That one dies while the actual one is still living thanks to you intervening in their death. In reality it was meant to be."

I had trouble catching on. "So basically every person I save was actually saved in my future?" I asked.

"Yeah pretty much," Cortana said, "I'm having trouble understanding that concept as well but that's what these files are telling me."

"When this is all over," I said after a few speechless seconds, "I'm taking a long nap." Seriously, how many more surprises do the Forerunners have in store for me? This was becoming more and more complex every second I stayed in the presence of Forerunner Technology.

I swear I heard Cortana laugh. "Are you ready?" She asked as I looked around the hanger.

"Yeah," I said, "Take off."

I returned down to the Pelicans and pulled out Weaponry boxes and ammo boxes. "Cortana," I said, "I'm going in heavy, just in case."

"Alright," She responded, "We're exiting the Forerunner Planet now. By the name of the planet is Fapth."

"With a 'p'?" I asked pulling out two SMG's and a Spartan laser.

"Yes," Cortana said as I felt something like a thud, "Activating Time flux slipspace sequence."

Suddenly the there was vibrating sound. "Cortana?" I asked.

"We're just travelling through time and in slipspace," Cortana said, "Give us about thirty minutes and we'll meet up with the exact time Team Gladius was being pursued by Sentinels. I'm also calculating the Onyx sentinel's location when they disposed of Team Gladius."

I walked up to the mapping console. Cortana had something displayed on it. It was a map of some kind of forest near a large camp. "I've got them," She said. We exited hyperspace and I looked on one of the screens to see Sentinels everywhere. But they looked different from the one's I've encountered on the Installations.

We're going in and activating stealth mode, "Cortana said, "I'm up loading the targeted area now. You can get down there and save Team Gladius. Everything might be a little distorted though. But don't worry."

I felt the ship going at a high speed watching it on the screen. I walked over to the rapid deployment device. There was a screen that was showing the forest. I spotted the targeting area which was marked by the HUD on the screen. Suddenly I heard a 'thmp' sound.

The three way arch lit up. "Go chief!" Cortana yelled. I ran into under the arch and I was suddenly in a forest. But I wasn't like I was supposed to be. I was transparent like an armored ghost. I saw the Sentinels closing in on this location. I looked around but I spotted them. Five kids no taller than my chest were running towards me. They had on strange armor. It was less bulky than mine and looked like it protected the wearer's entire body. It definitely wasn't MJOLNIR armor. They had helmets on similar to EVA helmets but were slightly different.

The kids were running from something that I could tell what. But they it seemed that everything but me and the transponders were normal and not transparent. They were running right at me not paying any attention. I went to grab two of them and another was going to ram right into my body. But they passed right through me. Something else came out of them. Transparent versions of themselves, one was knocked down seemingly colliding with my armor. The other two were halted by my arm strength.

"What the hell!" One of them yelled, "who are you?" I didn't have time to explain but I knew that this had something to do with the time travel thing instantly.

"Calm down," I orderd, "Grabbing the last two from their former bodies which were still running, "I'm a Spartan II designation Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John-117." The two one's I just pulled out of their bodies were shocked yelling.

"What?" Another said sounding unconvinced, "There's no way! Why are you transparent?" I looked at him.

"It's a long story," I said, "Just be glad I'm here to rescue you. Long story short, I just time travelled and saved you five."

"That's impossible," A female said.

I sighed almost impatient with them. "Look over there," I said gesturing towards their doppelganger halves.

They all looked to see armored people like them keep running only they weren't transparent. Suddenly they were caught in the middle of Sentinel crossfire.

"That would've been you all," I said but there was no time to explain it here. "Cortana," I said through my com, "beam them up first."

One by one they disappeared without Cortana saying a word. I took one last glance at their doubles' bodies lifelessly before I appeared in the hanger. The five kids were looking at the two Pelicans.

"You are an UNSC Spartan," One of them said sounding amazed. The other four looked at me. I couldn't tell their expressions of course do to their Helmets being on.

"Welcome back Chief," I heard Cortana say, "And Team Gladius."

"Who said that?" a female Spartan asked sounding alarmed.

"Relax," I said, "That's my A.I Cortana. She's the one who helped me save you five." I began to walk towards the Mission strategy area. The kids looked shaken up when I looked back at them. "Come on over here."

They followed. "How old are you all?" I asked as we got to the strategy area.

"We're fourteen," One of the boys said, "We were training under Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose. When you saved us we were in a high honor exercise."

I remembered my comrade Kurt-051. We got off at a rocky start because I wasn't sure if I could trust him. He was just a replacement on Blue team a while back, for my friend Sam. But I eventually learned to trust him. Then he disappeared. I wondered if this guy Kurt Ambrose was like him.

"Fourteen huh?" I said, "You must be almost done with your training."

"We are except we're doing a high honor exercise to see if we have enough experience to out rank the other members of Gamma Company," Another female said.

"I see," I responded, "Cortana, calculate the next Spartan death on Onyx."

"I'm already on it," Cortana said over the intercom.

I looked at the mapping board to see a swarm of sentinels covering a lot of ground. I instantly wished that they didn't go on standby mode when I destroyed the Halo. "I've calculated the next death Chief," Cortana said, "Team Saber member Dante-G188. I've got the time of death. We'll need to save him one minute before his death. He died of Needler rounds and plasma bolts. This happens in two hours."

"Alright calculate the death after that," I ordered, "and get us out in space for the wait."

"Yes sir," She said instantly.

I studied the screens and overview of the planet. I realized I had five Spartan III's still watching me. I decided to strike up a conversation.

"Team Gladius," I said, "Do me a favor and take off your helmets. I want to see your faces hear your names."

The Spartan team looked at each other before one took her helmet off. She was Caucasian and had dark brown short hair and black eyes. "My name is Jenny- G213," I'm team leader and tactical analyst."

The others took off their helmets. There was an African American boy who had black eyes and dark hair. "I'm Dez-G026," He said, "I am the Assault specialist."

Another was a Japanese girl. She had black hair and similar eyes. "I am Lacy- G224," She said, "I am the teams intelligence soldier and light weaponry expert."

"I'm Sanchez-G047," Another girl said. She had blonde hair and hazel eyes. "I am the teams Marksman."

The last one was a boy. He was a caucasion boy with black hair and blue eyes. "My name is Radcliff-G048," He said rather quietly, "I am the team's close quarters combat expert."

They seemed to act how a Spartan should. They might've been shocked to see me come out of nowhere.

"Let us see your face," Dez said, "We let you see ours."

"Very well," I said taking off my helmet. They looked at me revealing slightly surprised expressions.

"You said you were a Spartan II?" Jenny asked, "You look too young."

"I spent a lot of time in a Cyro-stasis capsule," I responded, "That was when I wasn't fighting in a battle."

"Then how many battles have you been in?" She asked, "It's amazing you survived this long."

"I lost count," I said truthfully, "I survived when the war was over."

"The war's over!" They all said at once, "With the covenant?"

I temporarily forgot they were saved just now from death. "Yes," I said, "The UNSC and Covenant Separatists won."

"Covenant Separatist?" Radcliff said quietly and unsurely.

"They were composed of the Elites, some hunters, and Grunts," I answered, "They saw that the Prophets were misleading the Covenant believing they could ascend into god hood. The Separatists saw this as a lie and the only reason we became allies is because we had two mutual enemies. The Covenant and the Flood."

They looked confused. After all this hadn't happen yet. To them they thought the humans were still at war with the Covenant.

After a few minutes Lacy asked, "If you're from the future how did you get here then?"

I looked at her sighing. "Well," I said truthfully, "I'd rather not explain much more than I already have. I wanted to save all of the Spartans that are MIA."

"You mean killed?" Sanchez asked almost demanded.

"No," I said, "What is the Spartan's most prominent protocol?"

"Spartans never die," Jenny said.

"They're missing in action," I said, "It was originally the only used to keep the morale of the UNSC's civilians and soldiers up so they had the will to fight. What I'm doing is ensuring that Spartans never die, not in the Human-Covenant war at least."

"So what's life like after the war?" Dez asked.

"I'm not sure," I said, "I woke up on a planet that had this on it. Cortana had told me it had time traveling abilities." I didn't see the need to tell the whole story at the moment. I'd wait until I got all the Spartans to tell everyone. Cortana didn't say anything so I assumed that she was thinking along the same lines as I was.

I looked at their armor. I realized that I hadn't seen it before. "I do have a question for you all," I said, "What kind of armor are you wearing?"

"It's called Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor," Jenny said, "It's cheaply made and doesn't have the shielding effect of the MJOLNIR armor."

"Another cheap armor type for the UNSC," I said. But before I could continue Cortana announced something

"I've calculated the next death after Dante-G188," She said suddenly, "There are two deaths that happen close together. Holly-G003 and William-043." Holly saves Kelly in a battle by sacrificing herself. She jumps in front of two hunter's assault cannon fire. The one after that, Will dies while gutting a Hunter with his bare hands which enrages its bond brother. its bond brother kills him with its assault cannon."

"That sounds like Will," I said almost laughing, "He always did overdo things." The five Spartans looked at me perplexedly. "When do these deaths occur?" I asked.

"Approximately eight hours after Dante's death," Cortana answered.

It had been almost an hour and ten minutes later. There wasn't much to talk about. Team Gladius seemed interested in how all the equipment worked. I tried to explain it to them which they listened intently. It was all peaceful until Cortana interrupted my mini-lesson. "We've got ten minutes until Dante's death. I suggest we execute a rescue mission and wait on him to get near to the targeted area of the ambush."

"Make it happen," I responded.

"Entering Onyx's atmosphere now," Cortana announced, "Stealth Mode still on and I'm seeing Covenant everywhere."

I put my helmet on walking over to the Rapid Deployment Device. "We want to help," Jenny said as they put their helmets on.

"I'm sorry," I said truthfully, "I can't oblige to that. I don't want something happening to you five while I doing this. The best thing you can do to help is to calm Dante down when I bring him back."

"Calm him down?" Sanchez said sounding offended.

"What were your reactions when I rescued you?" I asked. They didn't answer, they knew I was right.

"The path of travel has been targeted," Cortana said, "firing transponders." There was a "thmp" sound coming from the four launchers. "Go chief! You've got less than thirty seconds."

I dove between the Arches and appeared on the ground in the forest. There he was walking straight at me so close I could grab him now. I let him get within the transponder perimeter. "Whoa who are you?" He asked as I pulled him out his body. As soon as his real body exited the perimeter, he was full of needler rounds and plasma bolts.

"Cortana," I simply said. The boy was disappeared. I came in behind him.

"Dante!" I heard Lacy say, "It's okay. You're safe."

"What the hell is going on?" He asked sounding frightened.

The five of them explained the situation and I tried to fill in the gaps. He like the others eventually believed the story. "Cortana," I ordered, "Get us in space. We've got a long wait."

"I will," Cortana said, "In the mean time I suggest that all of you should get something to eat and get some sleep."

"You six can," I said, "I've got to keep going."

"No," Cortana said arguing with me, "You better get some food in you. It's been almost three days Chief."

"I'm fine," I said arguing back.

"No you're not," You've gotten some of the Spartans back, and you promised me you would once you did."

She was not going to let this one go. "Fine," I said after thinking it through. The fact was I hadn't eaten anything since the first time I landed on the Ark.

So I pulled out the large supply box of Meal Ready to Eat or MRE's for short. "Only one a day," I said, "There's enough here to feed a thousand Spartans for a month."

The kids immediately like a pack of wolves ate like crazy. I smirked under my helmet. They were starving.

I took my helmet off and ate slowly, like usual.

"So you said you wouldn't eat until you found Spartans?" Dante asked finishing his first, "Why?"

"Well," I said pausing in eating, "Look at it this way. Who did you spend most of your life with? Who can understand you better than anyone else? Who's been through the same trials and experiences as you?"

"Other Spartans," Radcliff said almost mumbling.

"Exactly," I said, "What do you feel when a Spartan is actually killed or missing?"

"Anger," Sanchez said immediately.

"Sadness," Lacy admitted.

"I'd want to find them or avenge them," Dante said, "We're all like brothers and sisters."

"Exactly," I responded, "I realized when the war was over you were all the beings I thought about. I might not know all of your names right away, but I can most likely relate to you better than anyone who isn't a Spartan."

"I feel the same way," Radcliff said still quiet. I looked at him trying to read him. I could tell he wasn't much of a talker.

"You remind me of one of my Fellow Spartan II's," I said after a short silence. Radcliff looked at me. "Her name was Linda. She's a strong woman and the quietest Spartan I know. Linda's a good friend of mine and she saved my life one time. We were in a mission called Operation: First Strike. We were to board a Covenant Mobile Planetoid Station called the _Unyielding Hierophant_ and overload fusion reactors to destroy it. She made sure that we weren't overwhelmed by Covenant with her marksman abilities. She saved the entire team by shooting seven pilots out their Banshees before escaping with us. If she hadn't, the Banshees would've overwhelmed us."

The kids seemed to be in awe of what I told them, like I was a war hero. I didn't see that in myself, I just saw me being a soldier trying to win a war.

"Master Chief?" Lacy asked, "How many medals have you been awarded?"

I leaned back scratching my slightly hairy chin. I was just starting to grow a beard and mustache back. The last time I shaved was in the brief time I was in Crow's Nest. "Well every medal imaginable except the Prisoner of War medal," I answered.

"Are you serious?" Dez asked.

Cortana intervened on this one. "He is not lying," Cortana said, "He is one of the most decorated war veterans alive. And he's the reason the war's over."

"Cortana," I said being truthful, "I wasn't that important to the war being over!"

"You're just being modest," Cortana said, "If you hadn't led the attack through the towers and take two scarabs down single handedly, we wouldn't have won!"

"You see," I said rhetorically, "I was trying to save the details for when all the Spartans were ALIVE!" I raised my voice but not that loud.

"Oh," Cortana said sounding embarrassed, "Sorry."

Almost immediately there was an explosion of questions, "You took down two Scarabs single handedly!" came from Lacy. "You led the attack that ended the war?" Sanchez demanded. "Are you being serious?" Dez inquired.

"Whoa," I said trying to calm their excitement, "yes it's all true, but I don't think of myself as a hero. I think of myself as a soldier, a regular Spartan soldier. It all seems great but when you're inches away from death, so close that a plasma bolt wisps by your head, you forget that, you don't know how war is. It's not some game you play and can try again later, its life and death. And no offense but that's what happened to all of you before you even got a taste of it. Until I decided no Spartan should die, they should just be waiting on me to find them."

The six Spartans were quiet, very quiet now. It seems that my words had gotten to them by advice or I just angered them. They looked at each other shamefully. They weren't acting like Spartans. They were acting like kids, or military jarheads. What was this Kurt Ambrose teaching them? Where was Sergeant Mendez? He trained the Spartan II's, he taught us well. I wasn't going to make a big deal out of this though. They were Spartans, nonetheless. I took the opportunity of silence to finish my meal.

"Okay, get some shut eye," I said after I was through, "We have around seven and a half hours before I have to go out and save Holly and Will. Cortana, will you wake us up in six and a half hours?"

"Yes Chief," She said, "Sweet dreams."

I fell asleep leaning on the side of pelican. The Spartan III's slept against the wall with their helmets off. I kept mine on. Before drifting asleep I noticed that they were close to each other, probably trying to keep warm. The only one who didn't was Radcliff. He was distant from the others, fighting to stay warm. It was cold in the hanger. Ironically this was how me and my Spartan II's slept during our training days. I remembered me, Kelly and Sam slept close together. I woke up seeing Sandra all by herself. She was distant from everyone else.

I didn't know the deal with the "lone wolves" in the Spartan II programs, but I had a hunch.

"_Why don't you come on over here?" I asked her quietly. Everyone else was asleep. We were sleeping against a wall of the facility we trained in. It was outside in the fall season on Reach. She was by herself distant from the rest of us._

_She looked at me. "Are you sure?" She asked sounding shy._

"_Yes," I said truthfully, "Everyone deserves warmth. Come on over here." I didn't understand her at the time. She seemed so distant back then. I knew this was the first time when I started to love her._

_She got up trembling from the cold. She leaned against the wall next to me. "Thanks," Sandra said almost falling asleep on the spot._

"_No problem," I answered feeling strange at that time. I remembered waking up her head on my shoulder and a feeling rush through me then._

But this boy was like an outcast or something. I didn't quite understand it. I never understood "lone wolves." He was definitely cold. I got up and walked over to sit down between him and Dez. Radcliff looked at me unsure. "Warmth is important," I whispered, "Even for Spartans." He nodded. He was like my little brother. I couldn't help but feel that way. We were all the same and we'd all had the same experiences in the harsh Spartan life especially in the training.

We were awoken by Cortana's voice six hours and thirty minutes later. I got up and walked towards the mission strategy area. It didn't take me long to wake up. I was used to getting very little sleep and fighting all day. The others woke up but it took a few minutes from them to get up.

"So what have you been doing this entire time while we were asleep?" I asked Cortana.

"I've been calculating other deaths and the time to save them," Cortana said, "I've also been working on tracking targets that are alive. It's sort of easy. It seems that once this ship supposedly goes back in time it's still connected to the time period of its last location."

"And since Fapth has no time in it," I continued her theory, "It's connected to all the events in the last one hundred years?"

"Yes," Cortana said, "The forerunners have created a time travel combination that doesn't stop the way things turn out. It's a clever way of combining Astroengineering, Weaponry, and Vehicular construction. Dr. Hasley would have a fit to hear all of this."

"I'm pretty sure the other Spartans and Lord Hood would too," I said feeling a rumbling and there was a distant sound. "What was that?"

"There's a battle going on in Onyx," Cortana said, "We cannot interfere except with our original mission."

"I know," I said, "And I'll try not to bring back what's still alive."

"Good," Cortana said, "It's almost time to rescue Holly and Will." I nodded and looked at the battle. A large group of Covenant were deploying units to combat. I could see the Spartans fighting them off.

"Master Chief?" I heard one of the Spartan children say. I turned around to see Lacy behind me and the others coming up the gravity lift.

"Yes?" I answered.

"We wanted to know what happens when something comes through the portal that isn't supposed to come," She asked.

I was surprised by this. "That's a good question," I said, "Well I'm assuming they'd split in two like you all did. If they ever did, you all could be ready for them. The only thing is if they are elites and hunters, let me deal with them. I know how to take them down. I've been on good terms with them and bad terms. How many of you have actually been in combat with a covenant unit?"

No one answered. "Okay," I said, "Did this Kurt Ambrose teach you their anatomy and vital points?"

"No not really," Dez said, "He told us that Colonel Ackerson wanted us to train by the book and taught us how to take humans down."

"Okay," I said slightly angry, "I don't care if we have another insurrectionist movement after this war but not training you to take down Covenant? That's unheard of, it's our ability to adapt is the reason we need extra training as the war progresses."

"Well," Jenny said, "Lieutenant Commander Ambrose said that we weren't receiving enough funds to keep our training at high standards. The war is costing the UNSC out the ass."

That was true. I remembered the UNSC had a tight budget during the war. It got to the point where there wasn't enough money to buy fuel to travel to one planet and save it from Covenant forces. That dealt a major blow to the UNSC as well as caused some UNSC soldiers and citizens to become insurrectionists.

"Well," I said making up my mind, "I'll give you a few pointers to take Covenant down. Even though the war is over when we return home, it's still good stuff to know in case another comes up." They looked at each other obviously interested in killing some Covenant some time. "Cortana can you pull up any visual files from you database to show them?"

"Yes," She responded, "Make this quick though you have forty four minutes and counting. I'll start with the Grunt."

"Okay," I said, "The grunts are the most cowardly units in the Covenant. They'd rather flee if they knew they didn't have a chance at winning. They can only breathe methane and due to this they wear large methane tanks and rebreathers. Because of this they have weak armor. They're weak in smaller numbers but they can be a pain in larger numbers. Next are the Drones." A picture of a Drone showed up. "They are dangerous in a swarm. They can fly but have weak armor. Using short controlled burst, you can take them down." Next Cortana had a picture of Jackals. "These are Jackals. They have high visual acuity and are good snipers. They usually wear point defense gauntlets that protect them from enemy fire. It would be more effective taking them on close range combat." Another picture showed up. It was Engineers. "These are Engineers. ONI believes these are slaves forced to enhance enemy technology." The next one was a Brute. "These are Brutes. They are one of the stronger races and are versatile in combat. The best way to take them down is to use head shots and if forced into a melee battle aim for the neck or head." An Elite showed up. "These units are up here in case we're forced into a war with them again. They are extremely agile and acrobatic. The best way to take them down is to stay away from them. But the neck is their weak point." A hunter appeared on the screen. "Hunters are extremely dangerous. They are slow and heavily armored. They are ten times stronger than any other Covenant. Attack where there isn't any armor. That's the only way to kill them."

The six of them seemed to be trying to remember all of what I just told them. I let it sink in their heads for a few minutes as I looked at the strategic board.

"Ten minutes Chief," Cortana said announced, "entering Onyx's atmosphere."

"Alright," I said heading down to the pelicans, "Follow me." The kids did as ordered. I pulled out several boxes of weapons. Most were assault rifles. "Here," I said giving one to each, "This is your new best friend for now on until we find the rest of the Spartans. Any questions?"

"One," Sanchez said, "How come I get this? I'm a marksman."

"Are you serious?" I asked. Sanchez should've been happy with an assault rifle. She'd put a hole in the ship if she fired a sniper rifle in close quarters.

"Yeah," She said like I was stupid.

"Sanchez!" Jenny shouted, "You get what is available!" Jenny was her team's leader. I didn't say anything against her decision.

"Yes ma'am," Sanchez grumbled.

"Dante," I said walking towards the gravity lift, "You're temporarily under Jenny's command. Got that?"

"Yes sir," Dante said as they all followed me.

"Three minutes Chief," I heard Cortana's voice. I holstered a shotgun that I had left at the Arch when rescued Team Gladius.

"Take up defensive positions near the device," I said, "If anything comes out that isn't a Spartan, shoot it. And watch your fire. You don't want to shoot each other by accident."

"Alright," Jenny said commanding her team, "Dante and Lacy get on both sides of the archway. Sanchez crouch position next to the quad-transponder launcher. Dez crouch near the gravity lift. I'll be behind you and Radcliff will be behind Sanchez."

"Nice formation," I commented, "but remember to shoot enemies not Spartans."

"Chief two minutes," Cortana said, "Launching transponders." The arch lit up and I ran in.

It was chaos. I was in the middle of an advancing unit of Covenant. There were Banshee's flying everywhere shooting plasma beams and fuel rod bolts. There were plasma fire going off and Needlers being fired. But I also heard assault rifles and Battle Rifles firing. I tried my best not to touch a single one of them. I saw Kelly and a few Spartans fighting off hordes of Covenant. I ran for them. I saw one Spartan in SPI armor running towards Kelly. She dove and I dove. At that moment a pair of Hunters shot their assault cannons. I of course went through her body taking a ghost like myself out of her. I turned where my back was going to hit the ground and through her towards the Transponder perimeter.

"Cortana get her," I said as I stopped sliding. I got up on my feet and Will suddenly slammed his fist into the backside of a hunter and ripped out worms. I ran at him and dove like I did to rescue Holly. His blood brother killed his solid half quickly.

"John!" Was all I heard from Will. He was definitely shocked.

"I'll explain later," I said urgently, "Follow me and don't engage with any Covenant."

"But why?" He asked.

"Just do it!" I yelled over the sounds of war and I broke out into a run. I could tell he was right behind me. We ran towards the perimeter, "Cortana get ready to beam us up!" As soon as I got in the perimeter I appeared walking out the arch. But there was firing going on. There were several grunts dead but something else that had come through before us. A large Hunter.

The formation of the team had broken. The visible line had backed away as the Hunter swung its massive arm. Will charged immediately but was thrown down on the hanger floor. The hunter roared angrily at me. I pulled out my shotgun I had holstered earlier and waited on it to swing at me. As soon as it did I jumped on its arm and hopped over it. I turned around and shot it in the exposed tendons on its back. It roared in pain but I kept shooting. It turned around and bunted me with its shield I was sent into the wall. I collapsed gasping in pain. Getting hit with a Hunter's shield could kill a Spartan. I wasn't dead but it hurt like hell. It roared again getting ready to turn on the kids. Will jumped on the gravity lift with an assault rifle in his midst. He shot the entire way down as he dropped over it but the hunter once again knocked him my way. I got up, my shields recharging.

"What the hell is going on?" Will asked getting up.

"Don't worry about that yet," I said gasping for air, "Let's kill this thing. You take the right and I got the left."

"Fine," Will said reloading his gun. We charged. Will fired trying to get its attention. I ran reloading my shotgun and as Will jumped on the railing to spring on the ground, dodging the Hunters swing in the process, I shot a few rounds in its exposed back. It turned towards me but Will was coming up the gravity lift shooting it in the exposed area.

The Hunter roared one last time before collapsing. Will was looking down at it breathing at a speed. "What the hell John?" He asked looking up at me.

"Hang on," I answered him, "Team Gladius. Casualty report?"

"None sir," Jenny reported.

"Good," I said walking towards the mission strategy center, "Cortana. Who is the next death?"

"Kurt Ambrose," She said, "It occurs in thirty two minutes. He detonates two FENRIS warheads that kills himself and the Covenant in the Core Room Antechamber. You don't need transponders this time. You can set the coordinates there and call me on your COM. I'll bring you back."

"You do know Kurt Ambrose is Kurt-051 right?" Will asked suddenly appearing beside me. I looked at him. That was a shock. Oh, Kurt was going to get it. He had me believing he was dead on our previous mission.

"Now I do," I said casually. Will looked at me. Of course I could read his expression, because of his MJOLNIR armor on.

"Listen," Will said sounding freaked by the sudden reunion, "What's happening John. I'm supposed to be dead."

I sighed. I had told this story a few times already. But nevertheless I filled Will in on what I told the Spartan Rookies about the war and how I got here. I decided that I could tell Will more of the story than the others. After all he was definitely trustworthy.

"I always hoped we would win," He said looking up at the screen, "An alliance with Elites and of few Hunters and grunts? That's something else." He talked so casually like he believed me the instant when he saw me. "The inheriting this stuff though is a nice touch too."

"You have no idea," I said, "But do you see what I'm trying to do though?"

"I do," Will said casually, "It'll be nice to see everyone again." I knew he was smiling brightly under his helmet.

"Chief," Cortana said, "Five minutes until he detonates the FENRIS bombs."

"Alright," I yelled down at the Pelicans, "Team Gladius get ready. I'm bringing back your commander. Will's in charge while I'm away." They were brandishing their assault rifles.

"Yes sir!" They acknowledged the order. I walked towards the Rapid Transport Device and waited.

"You know," Will said appearing behind me, "Kurt was only following orders. I know when I told you who Kurt Ambrose really was you immediately had an "intent to punish" feature. He was ordered to do this and his Jet pack had been purposely sabotaged by UNSC officials. They wanted him to train the next generation off Spartans, the Spartan III. Most if not, all of the three companies he trained were obliterated, which had been strategic victories in the UNSC's book somehow. Kurt was given strict orders to train them in the way he did. Mendez was there too."

"Thanks," I said trying to make a joke, which was rare, "Now I can't beat him up with a clear conscious." Will chuckled lightly.

"Alright Chief," I heard Cortana say, "Get going. I've already computed the coordinates and location."

I nodded. "I'll be right back," I told Will before walking in the Arches.

The scenery had changed. I was standing next to Kurt who just closed a massive door. I pulled him out of his body. He looked at me confused but realization of who I was.

"John?" He asked unsure whether I was real.

"Yes it is," I said, "Come on, my friend. Let's let you save your comrades."

His other body looked turned around and was being attacked. He was about to detonate the FENRIS bombs.

"Cortana?" I asked through the COM.

We beamed up seeing a flash of light right before we did. The last thing I heard his body say, "Died? Don't you know? Spartans never die."

**Kind of a Cliffhanger but I didn't want to unveil too much in one chapter. So what did you think? Some questions have been answered and some will be answered. Thank you and good luck. If you noticed I had to balance the Forerunners Technological discoveries and creations so it didn't seem too ungodly. Thanks for your time and I hope you review and enjoyed the chapter.**


	6. Shield World

**Chapter six is out. Please read and review, thanks. Anonymous reviews are excepted **

**Chapter 6: Shield World**

_John-117's POV-_

Kurt looked at me unintelligibly as we walked out the Arch. He looked upon eight Spartans he thought were dead. Afterwards he glanced around looking at the hanger.

"John?" He said faintly, "Where are we?"

"On a ship," I said looking at him, "You're not dead either. It's alright Kurt. There's nothing to be skittish over. I would recommend you talk to your trainee's. Let them know you're okay. I'll explain later."

I left Kurt to his trainee's and walked towards the mission strategy area. Will followed me. "He'll be fine," He said as we got there, "He'll calm down once he knows how it happened."

"I know," I said looking at the strategy map. Cortana had us a long way from the planet at the moment. But it exploded revealing trillions of Sentinels scurrying around but dying at the same time.

"Lt. Commander Ambrose," I heard the seven Spartan-III's announce. They were saluting him.

"At ease," Kurt said, "It's good to see you're all still alive soldiers." He stepped over the Hunter corpse that had been left then looked at me and Will. He walked our way.

"Chief," Cortana said, "I recommend we should return home. There are no more deaths on Onyx. Do you agree?"

"For now," I responded.

"Preparing for slipspace time interval jump," Cortana announced.

"What?" I heard Kurt say. There was a massive vibration moment that got easier to sustain. Kurt made his way over to us.

"John? Will?" He asked, "How is this happening?"

We sat down in a few chairs near the strategy area. "Okay Kurt listen," I said, "Aside from the fact I want to deck you for making me think you died, I'm here to save every Spartan I can."

"But how is this happening?" He asked, "How did you split my body in two people?"

"Okay," I said, "Listen Kurt. I saved you from certain death like I did with Will here and your Spartan III trainees. It's too complicated to explain it more than three times. But my goal is to save all the Spartans who were killed and were MIA in the War."

"What do you mean were?" Kurt asked confused.

"The war is over," I said, "In my time."

"In your time?" Kurt asked once again confused.

"In 2553 we win," I said, "As long as you're on this ship. You've always been alive. You never died. That's of course thanks to this ship and the Forerunner Technology." The words seemed to blurt out of me.

"We win?" He asked instantaneously, "But how do you know this?"

"I saw the end of it," I said, "There was a slight mishap and I ended up in the Forerunner home world. My ancestors home."

"Ancestors?" Kurt said disbelievingly, "Are you telling me that you're a Forerunner? There's no way John."

"Cortana?" I asked, "Pull up my family tree." A large stream of data loaded up on a screen and my family tree showed up.

"This is data we collected from a Forerunner planet," Cortana said, "Forerunners can track the current name for individuals who are one of them. They tracked John down as the last person alive with Forerunner in their blood."

Kurt looked at the screen. "But how?" He asked, "Doc told us that our other names didn't exist."

"Do you really think that a name change can stop Forerunners from finding everything out?" Cortana said harshly, "Humans have no common sense at all."

"We're Spartans," Kurt argued.

"Kurt let it go," I said, "Cortana, he's not up to date yet. Be patient."

"I'll be patient when we get home," I heard her mutter.

"What was that?" I asked, "Seriously Cortana? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," She lied.

"That's a lie," I said repeating what she once told me.

"Oh fine," She said sassily, "I just don't understand why humans don't appreciate the Architecture and Technology Forerunners left you."

"We're Spartans," Kurt muttered. I looked at him.

"I heard that," Cortana said.

"Okay," I said, "Cortana you need a time out." Did I really just say that? "Kurt, knock it off."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. "You do realize how Ironic your words were right?" Cortana asked.

"Yes," I said, "I did." The ship stopped vibrating.

"We're at the Fapth system," Cortana announced. As soon as she said that Monitor AA zoomed through the hangar door.

"Sir," It said to me, "I recommend we let the ship take a rest for two hours at least. After all, it is its first test run."

"Agreed," I said, "Cortana take us down for docking. Monitor AA, is there an LZ large enough to fit this thing in the Capitol?"

"Yes," It replied, "Cortana can find it no doubt."

"Cortana?" I asked.

"I'm on it," She replied.

Kurt and Will were listening but were preoccupied with the sudden appearance of a floating electronic ball with a screen on it. "What the hell is this?" Kurt asked.

"I'd like to know myself," Will asked.

"My assistant," I said dully, "It was standard protocol that I received two of them." Monitor AA rotated where its robotic eye looked at me. "Ignore that," I told it.

"Yes sir," It responded.

"We're landing," Cortana announced. The hanger doors opened revealing sounds and visual confirmation of Sentinels.

"Whoa!" The seven Spartan-III's yelled raising their guns.

"Stand down," I ordered, "They're not going to harm you!" The seven Spartans looked back at me unintelligibly.

"Hey Sentinels!" I yelled, "This area is safe. Avoid a 500 meter perimeter around the _Fate of Faith_." The sentinels immediately shot away like they were being repelled.

The Spartan III's lowered their weapons confused. Kurt looked at me like he had just been caught in a lie.

"What?" I asked simply.

"You," He said amazed, "You really are a Forerunner!"

"Correct," I said, "But I didn't know it until the end of the war when I was transported here."

This seemed a lot for Kurt to take in. I could tell because he always had "feelings" about stuff. I decided that I should tell him the rest of the story.

…

When I finished, Kurt didn't know what to do or how to react. "You mean you can save every Spartan from death?" He asked sounding hopeful.

"Yeah," I said, "With information that Cortana has on the war and the casualties combined with Forerunner recordings, we can pinpoint everyone's location."

Kurt suddenly went into praying and hopeful mode, "Can you save All the Spartan-III's? Even the one's in Alpha and Beta Companies."

"Yeah," I said, "Everyone who was a Spartan at any time. Remember our Spartan protocol? Spartans never die, they're missing in action. That's a reality now."

"How is it reality?" Kurt asked. It was like he was getting the concept that Forerunners could do anything they wanted if they built the right thing, had the right calculations, and knowledge.

"Cortana can you show him the clip with Noble Team?" I asked.

"Noble team?" Kurt said, "They died on Reach."

"Apparently not," Cortana said as a clip appeared, "Noble team only had six members to it. Now there are seven. It is the same Spartans as before."

Kurt got up taking his helmet off and adjusted his eyes. There was complete shock on his face. "It is them!" He said lightly, "But how did you get this clip?"

"This system has no time in it. Although it has a day and night cycle the Forerunners preferred not to let anything inside age. Just like they did with Onyx's shield world," Cortana announced, "I've been calculating this entire time how to enter it."

"I destroyed the only way," Kurt said sadly, "I don't think we can get in there no matter what."

"Don't give up yet," I said, "Monitor AA, relay information to Monitor A1, ask it if there's an alternative route to shield world installation in the human named planet called Onyx."

"Yes sir," Monitor AA said then stayed mute for around five seconds. "He is searching now."

"Very well," I replied, "Do you have any information on Onyx's shield world? As in its purpose?"

"The shield installation's primary purpose was to harvest a mineral human's call Onyx," It replied, "It also serves as a Bomb shelter and a cache of technology that I'm not aware of. It's last purpose is to sustain a food and water resources, whether it be hunting, fishing, and water gathering. This insures that the shield world is sustainable for reclaimers."

"Well," I said, "At least it's good to know they're not starving."

"While we're on the shield world subject," Kurt said, "How could a Phantom suddenly drop in and fit through the door? It just appeared behind us as they were going in."

"That is a good question," I replied, "How did a lot of Spartans appear there in the first place? Spartan's that weren't apart of the regular task force?"

"That's a good question too," Kurt mimicked me.

"Sir," Monitor AA said, "My twin has reported that he has figured out a way to get in. He has sent the coordinates to Cortana."

"I have indeed received the data I need," Cortana said, "But we should wait an hour and forty five minutes. The Time flux generator needs to cool off and recharge."

"I agree," I said, "We have all the time in the world."

Will looked at me confused. "Speaking of time," He asked, "How do you do this without distorting time?"

"Easily," Cortana answered, "The Forerunners have created Ions that emit from the Ship that distorts the fabric of time for a short while, this allows the ship to slip into a time stream. It also has fluctuations that bend the matter around whoever exits the ship while it's in a different time. That's what causes transparency and the ability to pull someone from their body. Using a combination of cloning and astroengineering the one pulled from the body becomes the real one while the body keeps living on. One can only pull the real you out if you are twenty minutes from death. But in reality no matter what happens, you had never died. It was fate you still lived and did not alter the events. That's where the time flux generator comes in. It keeps your transparent body attached to the world until you reach this ship. Once in the ship, you can exit being like you were before death."

"So it's a never ending cycle then?" Kurt asked.

"Isn't that what time is?" Cortana asked, "A never ending cycle of events?"

"I guess so," Kurt replied. I think he was finally accepting the concept.

"Don't worry," I said, "It took me longer to accept everything going on. But once I did, well, I decided to put it to some use." Kurt nodded at this.

I walked over to the edge of the doors and looked out at the sentinels who floated by. Was this where I was destined to live? Was this where I'd live at from now on? I didn't want to but what if I didn't have a choice? What if I couldn't return to the UNSC with everyone? I'd let them go if I could, if they wanted to. That was really depressing, but it would be something I would have to do. If only I had thought of that sooner. Was I dooming everyone to an eternity of staying with a Forerunner? This was the only time I actually did not try to interact with the other Spartans on the ship. It was a lot to think about.

The two hour interval had passed quickly. I got up ready to see how we were going to do this. "Cortana," I asked, "How many personnel are actually in shield world?"

"Twenty seven," She announced, "Shall we begin?"

"Yes," I said.

"All passengers," Cortana announced, "Stand back from the Hanger doors." She closed them as the ship started up and began hovering up.

"Just so a large ship the size of a small moon doesn't alarm them," Cortana said, "I suggest you contact with them before entering the complex they're held up in." A diagram of a five towered complex appeared.

"This is similar to a housing development," Cortana announced, "At the very top of the main tower is a control tower that monitors the Micro Dyson Sphere. It'll have a communications device."

"Very well," I commented.

"I must also inquire that we send word to the sentinels that are inside," Cortana said, "With their help we can open a rift from the Fapth system to the MDS system."

"Make it happen," I said. At this moment, my heart swelled. I was finally going to see her again. Seeing Sandra in person? That was worth a war in its own perspective.

"The sentinels have all started the formation for a slipspace entrance," Cortana announced, "Chief I'd get up here to tell them who we are."

"Alright alright," I said, "I'm coming."

"Entering Slipspace now," Cortana said.

I got up there as we were coming out of Slipspace.

"I'm going to land at the base of the complex," Cortana announced, "We might enter a little fast but it's nothing I can't handle."

I was looking at the visual screen. Cortana really was going fast. We got to the desert planet quickly and she hit the atmosphere quickly as well. There was the complex, we were coming up on it rapidly. Cortana immediately put the breaks on as she made the ship rotate to have the side of the ship facing the complex.

There was a visual on the control room. Everyone was in it, everyone who was in the MDS was in there staring shocked at the massive ship before them.

"Hello," Cortana said through the COM.

"It's about time you all came home," I said through the COM, "isn't it?" I figured since they were already surprised at the sight of the ship, why not surprise them even more with something they probably wanted.

…

_Sandra's POV-_

It was a miracle, there couldn't have been another way for this to happen. That was John's voice! There was no denying that. I couldn't help it, it made my stomach feel like there were butterflies in it.

"Is that who I think it is?" Fred asked astounded.

"I think it's John," Kelly said dumbfounded.

"Who else would it be?" His voice rang through the COM, "Listen, me and a few Spartans are going to land on a platform via Pelican. Don't shoot at us please."

"Uh we won't," Fred said still in shock.

"Who is he?" A Spartan III named Blake asked.

"He's a Spartan II," Doctor Halsey said, "One of the leaders. How he managed to get in, I don't know."

"John was always very determined, "Linda said.

"But what makes him so special?" Blake asked.

"Everything," I blurted out. Everyone looked at me. "His rank is Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy and he received top marks at everything Spartans did during training." The Spartan II's nodded simultaneously.

A pelican shot out of a Hanger on the massive ship. "Let's go greet them," Kelly said.

We met him on the platform we called the hanger. The pelican landed as we walked out onto it. The rear door opened and Spartans filed out.

"That's team Gladius!" Ash announced shocked.

"There's Dante and Holly!" Mark said.

Two more Spartans followed behind them. They were Spartan II's. "Impossible," Fred muttered shocked. "It's Will and Kurt!"

"I thought they all died," I said confused. This was weird.

"We watched them die," Kelly said, "What the fuck is going on here?"

Then last but not least another Spartan exited the Pelican. It was him. My heart fluttered instantly. John walked behind the others with his MJOLNIR armor still on like the others.

When they got into talking distance things were tense. No one from our group expected to see John and a bunch of Spartans we thought were dead, alive.

"No you're not looking at ghosts," Kurt immediately said starting off the conversation.

"Then how?" Dr. Halsey asked.

Kurt and Will turned back to look at John who made his way between them. "We're going to need a bunch of chairs for this story," He said sighing, "And a lot trust in us."

"This way," Fred said realizing that this was going to take forever.

John and the others remained silent as we followed Fred towards a meeting room. He looked about as tense as we were.

John took off his helmet revealing his face to us when we were good and settled. "Okay," He said, "If I'm blunt there's no way you'll believe me. Kurt here didn't either. Construct of Housing facility, show my Genealogy Tree."

"Yes sir," A voice said. And on the wall appeared a long list of names.

"Who said that?" Mendez asked.

"My ancestors A.I," John said simply, "Read the tree."

I looked at the tree and at the very bottom under two names was, John-117. I opened my mouth to speak.

"Forerunners have amazing tracking Skills Doc," He said to Halsey, "I checked it myself. Cortana even did."

Dr. Halsey looked like she had been proven wrong in something. She looked at the Genealogy Tree then back at John.

"But your name was changed to John-117," She inquired.

"Show the original," John told the A.I.

The name changed to his other name. "I have forgotten that name," John said roughly, "I go by John-117 now. I am part Forerunner on my father's side."

That hit me hard. John was a Forerunner? My mind whirled at this information. I apparently wasn't the only one. Everyone in the room other than the group that arrived with John had expressions on that could even come close to normal.

"John?" Fred asked unsure, "Have lost your mind?"

"Nope," He said simply, "I thought I did too. But I didn't, this Genealogy tree is proof and the reason the sentinels will no longer attack humans. Or Elites for that matter."

"Why not Elites?" Kelly asked confused.

"The war is over," John announced, "It's over in 2553. We won." Everyone was waiting on John to say it was a joke. "The Covenant were beaten back and their leaders destroyed."

"Uh how do you know that?" Dr. Halsey asked.

"Because he ended it," I heard a feminine voice say, "It was him and the Arbiter of the Covenant Separatists."

"Cortana?" Dr. Halsey asked, "Is this all true?"

"Every word of it," Cortana said.

"Who are the Covenant Separatists?" Fred asked.

"All the Elites," John said, "a few Hunters, and some Grunts. The Prophets betrayed the Elites and the Elites formed the Separatists. Eventually we made an alliance with them." John turned around walking towards the window like he'd seen it all. "Then the Flood appeared again. They had Cortana so I took care of them. What ended the war with our enemies was the firing of a premature Halo."

"Wait," Dr. Halsey asked, "Another Halo was being built?"

"Yes," John said turning back around, "There were Seven Halo's and large star shaped installation called the Ark. It builds the Halo's. The Ark is where we ended the war. What's more interesting is that I inherited the Halo Array."

"What!" Kelly yelled, "Chief I think you need to rest a bit."

"If you think I'm lying, John said, "I don't blame you. I thought I was being fooled myself at first. Once we escaped the destruction of the premature halo and the damaged Ark, I woke up crash landed in a system similar to this one. I quickly had to reboot Cortana's rampancy locks and I gathered everything I could salvage, made my way to get two pelicans, loaded it up and went exploring. We found out what my birth lineage was and I wanted more proof. I wasn't accepting this but I had no choice. The Sentinels obeyed me, protected me, I ended up getting to stop the rings from being any harm than they were, and I had a conversation with the Ark's A.I, Mendicant Bias. He told me he sent me to my ancestors home world as a reward for eradicating the Flood." Everyone had their eyes on him. I was starting to believe him. There was no flaw in his voice.

"The ship we arrived in," John continued, "Is called _Fate of Faith_. This is where you're going to want to test me for drugs Dr. Halsey. It can travel through time and is one of the Forerunner's most prominent inventions. Too bad it wasn't completed until the Forerunners wiped out their own race in attempts to destroy the Flood."

We all didn't say anything. It truly did sound like he had lost his mind. This wasn't right. How was he able to keep a straight face and show no signs of lying? I looked at him troubled by him. What was this war doing to him?

"John," Dr Halsey said unsure but was cut off.

"Think of it this way," He said gesturing to the group that came with him, "Everyone knows that all of them died in the battle for Onyx. Team Gladius died due to the Sentinels I didn't have control of at the time. Dante died from a sneak attack from the Covenant. Holly and Will died by a pair of Hunters. And Kurt here, died by detonating two FENRIS warheads. How can they be alive before your very eyes?"

Everyone stayed silent. "I saved them for one reason," John said, "I was the last Spartan who was supposed to be MIA. I knew that there were some still alive. I made it my mission to find everyone. And I found only a couple."

"But if your time travelling," Dr. Halsey said, "How are you not distorting events?"

"That one got me too," John said, "Cortana can explain it better than I can."

"It's a combination," Cortana's voice rang, "of Forerunner astroengineering, weaponry, vehicular construction, and cloning. To time travel the forerunners created this ship to release negatively charged Ions. Since positive Ions are used to go into slipspace the right amount of negative Ions can cause the ship to slip further into space, which is Time. To keep the events from distorting, once the ship is in the past, which it can only go about a hundred years, if you leave this ship you become transparent and unnoticeable to the ones in the past. For example, Chief exited to save these eight from death. They didn't see him until he pulled them from their bodies that became clones."

"How is that possible?" Dr. Halsey asked. I could tell she was starting to believe John just like I was. He and Cortana seemed to have gone through a lot involving this.

"Well he can only pull them from bodies if they are ten minutes away from death," Cortana said, "No matter what he tries they will split. The clones become the one who die. It's an illusion that the Forerunners made. Just so there's no confusion, his decision was meant to be. I recorded this to prove it to you all."

A clip appeared of seven members of Noble Team. "That's Noble Team!" Dr. Halsey said, "Even the former member Thom-A293."

"This is clips of what happens when we arrive home with all the Spartan's alive," John said, "I've even seen clips of Sam-034 with all of us. I can't be lying with these forerunner clips."

"But how can you see stuff that happens everywhere?" Mendez asked.

"While inside these Dyson spheres, there is calculated time, "Cortana said, "There is only a day and night cycle."

John didn't say anything, instead he waited. "I believe him," Doctor Halsey spoke to us, "It makes sense. And it's not easy to fool Cortana. And if she believed it, I do too."

"We believe him," Will said, "I saw my clone die from a fuel rod gun. Then I made it here." The others in John's group stood by him.

"Me too," I spoke up. Everyone looked at me. "When has John ever joked about something this big?"

Fred clapped his hand on Johns shoulder. "I believe you man," Fred said, "It was just a lot to take in one go round." John smirked.

"I do too," Kelly said, "You big lug."

"That's Jorge's trait," John said, "Not mine." Kelly grinned at this.

It seemed everyone believed in him. John had that effect. He was a Spartan who rallied confidence in others. It was like he gave us hope, a will to keep fighting.

"So who wants to get off this rock?" Kurt asked.

"Everyone," Kelly answered bluntly.

"Pack your things then," Kurt said, "It's time to go get some more Spartans." Everyone but Halsey and I left.

"But what about all the research I've been doing on this planet?" Doctor Halsey asked, "We've been here all this time. I've barely scratched the surface of what can be learned here."

"Don't worry about it," John said, "I really don't understand the technology here. But I can have Cortana transfer all the data to you."

"You can do that?" Dr. Halsey asked.

"Yes ma'am," John responded, "The Forerunners left me their technology to do something with it, Declaimers are the ones they wanted to inherit it if something happened to me. So I wouldn't be disobeying their wishes if I turned over the technology to the UNSC would they? I deactivated the Halo array's primary weapons systems. I'll do the same with this ships time travel ability."

"I can understand that," Dr. Halsey said, "Oh there's something I've been wondering."

"Shoot," he said glancing at me.

"There's a Forerunner complex on another planet," Dr. Halsey said, "Do you know what's in there?"

"To be honest," John said, "I was going to find out anyways. I'm curious as well. There's a cache of technology there. Whether it would be vehicles, devices, or weapons, I don't know. You'd better get your lab equipment. If you have a data chip, keep it ready."

"You're right," Dr. Halsey said, "I'll talk to you later." With that she walked out the door.

"It's been a long time," John said after a while. My heart gave a little flutter.

….

_John's POV_

Finally after a war with the Covenant, I finally get to see her.

"Yes it has," She answered nodding, "How long? Since the Halo?"

"Yes ma'am," I answered casually.

"The war's over," Sandra said walking closer, "What's left to do besides find our friends?"

I looked over out the window then back at her. "I don't know," I said answered, "I guess we'll all have to find something that suits us."

Sandra smiled. "How come you get to see the war end?" she asked me.

"I got lucky," I said, "Did you know that's why Cortana wanted to be my A.I?"

Sandra laughed a little. "That's why?" She asked.

"Yeah," I answered, "She told me that a while back." Before I knew it I was being tackled, or so I thought.

I realized that I was embraced in a hug. I returned the hug gently. After all, I was still in my MJOLNIR armor. She was in a grey long sleeved shirt and pants. "We didn't think we'd get out," She said trembling, "The thought of it scared me. Not seeing you was more than I could bear."

I didn't know what to say. We were taught to ignore our feelings. We were told it would destroy us but emotions aren't easy to put away. I couldn't deny it. I was in love with her.

"That's," I started, "Something I can relate to." She looked up at me after this.

"There's something I wanted to tell you," Sandra said, "I lo-"

We broke apart hearing someone. There was a possibility that we could face court martial if we were caught together like this. I nodded at her just as Fred came through the door. I hope she was about to say what I thought she was.

"Everything's set except some of the stuff in Technicians lab," Fred said leaning in the door, "Our armor's ready." He waited on us.

"After you," I said to Sandra as I gestured to the door. She smiled as I put on my helmet, and walked towards the door. I followed close behind her.

We made our way up to the lab. It was a Forerunner console room with a metal table. Kelly was already putting her armor on with the help of Will.

"Want to help me?" Sandra asked me.

"No problem," I said as she started to put it on. I helped her get the shoulders and pauldrons on. Her helmet was customized. It was the regular Mark VI helmet. Her armor was dark blue. She put on her helmet and we both walked out with everyone else.

"John," Dr. Halsey said, "I've got the data chip. I just need your help to retrieve the data."

"Yes ma'am," I answered. I turned to Fred, Sandra, Kelly, and Will. "I'll catch up in a second."

We made our way back up to the control room. Dr. Halsey looked at me like she was disappointed in herself.

"What is it?" I asked as we walked towards the main console.

"I didn't know," She said, "You were Forerunner."

"Neither did I," I answered, "It doesn't matter. I'm still a Spartan, and a soldier. That comes first."

"So why did you come back for us?" Dr. Halsey asked.

"I got lonely," I replied, "I was also floating in space and wound up on the Forerunners home planet. Plus, I found out that I was going to save every Spartan anyways. Cortana showed me the clip of me saving those Spartan III's and you saw Noble Team."

"Well," Dr. Halsey said, "I guess it all turns out the way it should."

"Yes," I said, "Pull up files on this system." An A.I acknowledged the order. I placed the data chip in a slot. "Transfer all data into the chip."

When the transfer was complete we made our way down to the hanger. It's funny how I didn't see the Green Phantom earlier.

"Green Phantom!" I said out loud.

"Huh?" Fred said, "Yeah it's weird huh? We thought it was just a new paint scheme."

"No," I said walking up to it, "That's a Separatist Phantom."

"Wait, are you sure?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah," I said, "We assaulted the Ark with a combination of Pelicans and Phantoms against the Covenant. The question is how did Covenant get a hold on one?"

"Who knows?" Kurt said.

"I can drive?" I asked simply.

Fred looked at me. "I guess," He said.

I ran in through the cockpit. Once everyone was loaded on the Phantom and Pelican we made our say back to the _Fate of Faith_. I wondered if this one had stealth technology yet. There was a button just like the one I seen on one in the assault. I pressed it.

"Hey!" I heard Mendez yell through the COM, "What the hell happened to the Phantom?"

"It's a cloaking mechanism designed by the Elites," I said through the COM, "Maintain your current flight path. I'm coming out." I pressed the button.

"What the hell?" Mendez said, "What else haven't you told us?"

There was mumbling in the back ground. "He did what!" Mendez demanded. "Chief why didn't you tell us you took down two Scarabs single handedly?"

"Who told you that?" I asked. I knew who did. One of the Spartan III's

"Uh Dez," Mendez said.

"Kurt," I said, "You better hide him otherwise I'll have him cleaning the hanger." Mendez relayed the message. I could have sworn I heard Sandra giggle behind me.

Both ships docked side by side in the hanger. Dez was trying to sneak away. I got out and went after him. He used the stairs to get up to the platform but I used a gravity lift. He bumped right into me. "Hey chief I'm sorry!" He said sort of frightened. He made a run for it. I grabbed him with one hand and picked him up by a handle that was on the back of him. These handles were for transporting the armor when they weren't being worn.

"Yeah," I said, "You are." I had him unloading everything off the Pelicans and Phantom, polishing the guns, organizing everything, and doing a thousand pushups. Cortana was monitoring him as she was flying us to the planet that the mystery Forerunner complex was on.

"Harsh," Kurt comment as we Spartan II's and Dr. Halsey were sitting up on the Mission strategy area. He was talking about what I had Dez doing.

"He's a good kid," I said, "He just runs his mouth a lot."

"Seriously," Kelly said siding with me, "What have you been teaching them?"

"Uh," Kurt started, "Basics and some of the stuff we did when we were Spartans. UNSC funding was getting tight."

"Okay then," I said, "When we get all the Spartan's back. You're S-III's are going to have some serious training."

"Not all were bad," Dr. Halsey said, "Just look at those who were in Noble Team."

"None were bad," I corrected, "It's just ridiculous that the UNSC couldn't fund the training. You couldn't even give a few pointers on the Covenant?" I told Kurt this.

"I was under strict surveillance," Kurt said, "Ackerson told me I was facing Court Martial and Jail time if I was caught doing anything illegal."

"He always was the jealous type," Dr. Halsey said, "But I'm the one who actually feels guilty for making you live this kind of life."

I looked at every one of the Spartan II's who were doing the same.

"Why?" Kurt asked simply, "Most of us, if not all of us would have died in Covenant invasions if you just left us."

"He's got a point," Linda said speaking for the first time since I was here, "We've all been able to be of some use in this war. I wouldn't have had it any other way." I gave a simple nod.

"What's a better way to live," Fred said casually, "Than to fight for the humanity's sake?"

"Nothing," Kelly said, "Except maybe killing a few Covenant assholes." I somehow knew she was disappointed from not being able to see the end of the war.

"Don't beat yourself up too much Doc," Sandra said, "Nothing was better than fighting the war for us. The only thing you did was prepare us. And Mendez helped."

"Yeah let's not forget chief," Will said, "He was practically our dad for nine years."

"Agreed," Fred said.

Dr. Halsey had a surprised expression on. I didn't say anything, but I got the feeling she wasn't feeling too ashamed of herself now.

"So chief," Kelly said, "You actually took down two Scarabs in the same battle?"

I sighed. "It is true," I said, "My orders were to stop the Prophet of Truth from firing the rings. They captured Sergeant Johnson in the confusion somehow. There was a massive assault on the firing location called the citadel. Two Scarabs were basically the last line of heavy defense of the Covenant. They jumped off the cliffs and damaged our scorpions pretty hard. So I boarded a Hornet that was being piloted by an ODST. He dropped me off above one. I made my way to the core and destroyed it. The second was already firing on the Scarab that was melting down. I jumped off and used a bubble shield to protect myself from the explosion and the other Scarab. The Hornet returned to get me and I did the same with the other."

"Damn," Kelly replied, "What happened in the room."

"Well," I said, "The Arbiter and I fought through ground troops of the Covenant. There was a temporary truce between us and the Flood. They helped us get to the Prophet. Then..."

My heart sank. I looked at Dr. Halsey. I remembered it like it was yesterday. Miranda Keyes died trying to save Avery Johnson. Damn, how could I have forgotten that? I slammed my fist into the wall, which shocked the Spartan II's and Dr. Halsey.

"The prophet was torturing Avery," I said trying to keep a calm voice, "then Lieutenant Commander Miranda Keyes flew a Pelican into the room through the glass. She caused a hell of a fight that caught everyone including me and the Arbiter off guard."

_The story-_

_I was running with the Arbiter towards the Prophet of Truth's location. We saw the pelican crash. Miranda came out shooting with a shotgun killing two elites and wounding several others._

"_Johnson!" I heard her voice, "Sound off."_

"_Get out of here!" I heard Avery cough._

"_Not without you," She said._

_I heard more gunshots go off._

"_You delay the inevitable," I heard Truth say, "One of you will light the rings!"_

"_You cannot kill them all!" I heard Truth say._

"_Your right," I heard Miranda say._

"_Do it," Avery say. I was running as fast as I could, "me then you."_

_There was a few silent seconds. "Now!" I heard Avery yell. I heard gunshots but it wasn't from a pistol. It was from a spiker._

"_NO!" Avery yelled._

"_Your forefathers wisely set aside their compassion," Truth said, "steeled themselves for what needed to be done!"_

"_I see now," Truth said, "Why they left you behind. You were weak, and God's must be strong!"_

_As I ran into the main room six large rings lit up. I came to a stop when the Flood came out of nowhere._

"_Do not shoot," I heard, "But listen! Let me lead you safely to our foe! Only you can halt what has been set in motion."_

_I nodded and we went in killing as many brutes as possible. A chieftain came at me with a gravity hammer. I caught the hammer and shot him with a pistol. The Arbiter was busy with brutes himself. The brute I was in lock with let go of the hammer and pulled out a mauler. I jumped back as hard as I could throwing a Frag grenade. The chieftain dove out the way. I pulled used the hammer as soon as I landed after the Frag explosion. I ran towards the chieftain and hit him with the gravity hammer._

_I ran forward and slowed down to see Johnson with Miranda. He closed her eyes gently. I stared at her for the longest time that seemed like an eternity. She was dead, I failed to save her. The Arbiter went after Truth. Holding him up with one hand the Arbiter readied his sword._

"_Can you see Arbiter," Truth said weakly, "The moment of Salvation is at hand."_

_The Arbiter grabbed him by the throat. "It will not last!" He said._

"_Your kind never believed in the promise of the sacred rings!" Truth said. The Arbiter drew his sword as Flood tentacles became to take over the Prophet. I had my assault rifle ready._

"_Lies for the weak," I heard the Gravemind say through Truth, "Beacons for the deluded."_

"_I will have my revenge on a Prophet!" the Arbiter said, "Not a plague!"_

"_My feet shall tread the path!" Truth said, "I shall become a God!" The infection spreads on him as tentacles spread._

"_You will be food," The gravemind said, "Nothing more."_

_I turned around seeing that the Arbiter had this handled. I turned off the rings by console._

"_No!" Truth yelled as the seven holograms dimmed to shut off._

"_I am truth!" Truth said, "I am the voice of the Covenant!"_

"_And so you must be silenced!" The Arbiter said running his blade through Truths back._

Dr. Halsey looked at me trembling. Miranda Keyes was after all, her daughter. Doctor Halsey didn't say anything else.

"I tried," I said, "I nearly tore my Achilles tendons trying to sprint in the suit. We just weren't quick enough."

"Don't blame yourself," Dr. Halsey said quietly but trembling, "She was the one who rushed things." She was trying to keep from going to tears. "She was just like Jacob."

I kept my expression vacant under my helmet. The other Spartans didn't say anything. They didn't move, or even flinch. Everyone knew Dr. Halsey's daughter, even though she wasn't mentioned much.

"Talk about something else," Dr. Halsey muttered.

"Uh," was all Kurt could say.

"How did you become a higher rank?" I asked immediately. If I started with something simple and keep the conversation going it might take Dr. Halsey's mind off her daughter. In the back of my mind I considered saving her as well.

"Ackerson," Kurt said, "But that was only because he wanted me to train Spartans for his own glory. I don't want that rank any more. It wasn't given to me by someone with good intentions to the UNSC. I'll take my old rank back."

"I'd rather keep my old one too," Fred immediately said, "Nothing against you Kurt but we both received it under false pretenses." Kurt went to say something. "Don't Argue." He didn't.

"So you're still the highest rank here," Kelly said, "what a surprise."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"You do too much," Kelly said jokingly.

"I-"

I was cut off by Cortana. "Chief," She announced, "We are coming up on the Forerunner facility. Dez, you have completed all but ten. Some were not full push-ups." Dez started finishing them. "I'll stay on board and launch the Transponders."

"Alright," I said, "Who else is coming?"

"Who wouldn't?" Kelly asked.

"Fine then," I said getting up, "Might as well take some weapons. Don't know what's in there."

"Hopefully not Gueta," Cortana commented.

"Yes," I said, "That would be bad."

"How would they be here?" Sandra asked.

"I wish I knew," I said simply. I vaulted over the railing and landed on the hanger floor. I walked towards where I had Dez organize the weapons.

I was inspecting an SMG. "On the planet Fapth," I said making sure it could fire, "The Forerunner home world. There was a swampland research area. Two Gueta attacked me on Forerunner towers. I probably would've been dead if Sentinels didn't save me." I holstered two SMG's, picked up a shotgun and a Battle Rifle. I holstered the shotgun on my back. The Spartan III's went for Assault Rifles and an SMG each, under Kurt's order of course.

Linda grabbed a Battle rifle and a Sniper rifle. Will went with the only rocket launcher we had and two SMG's. Kurt stuck with his Carbine he's been using. Kelly too went with the Carbine only she also had a Battle Rifle. Sandra went pulled the last shotgun and Battle rifle. Fred took a Spartan Laser and two SMG's.

"So how did Gueta get there?" Will asked, "I thought they were native only to Reach."

"The forerunner's must've been studying a population," Cortana announced, "We encountered nineteen of them."

"Nineteen?" Kurt said under his breath. I picked up a pistol and another SMG then turned to Doctor Halsey.

"You need one too," I said, "Don't say no."

Dr. Halsey looked at me thinking on something. She took it.

"We're going to stay up here," one of the ODST's said.

"Very well," I said, "Watch out for sentinels. Everyone else, let's move." I walked towards the Rapid Deployment device which was on. I assumed Cortana already set the coordinates.

"One at a time," I said before walking in. I was standing in the middle of a cleared out area in front of a large Forerunner building. There were plasma fences surrounding the building and a gate as well. Behind it was several beam turrets mounted up above the fence. There was an encryption panel that controlled the gate. I placed my hand on it. The Gate opened immediately.

I walked in eyeing the turrets with my gun drawn. I looked back to see everyone behind me. I kept on walking towards the only large door. There was another encryption panel. I placed my hand on it. A large door big enough for a Scorpion tank to cross opened up. There was a platform immediately with no way across to the other side. The Encryption panel that operated the plasma bridge had been smashed.

"Now what?" Ash asked.

I looked around. There was definitely a way across. Up on a balcony there was what looked like another bridge control panel. I jumped on a low pillar and then up to the next. There was a floating platform. I jumped on it and then to the balcony. I pressed my hand on the encryption pad and a plasma bridge appeared. Everyone crossed. I ran and got a running jump off the balcony on the other side with them. There was a door that led to an elevator lift but a large console in front of it.

Dr. Halsey looked at it. She began to type rapidly. "Looks like you were right chief," She said, "This place is a storage unit for Technology."

"What kind?" I asked.

"Several," She responded, "There are ten levels and one large silo. It's like a storage unit, for anything Forerunner related. It's nothing but a museum and library of Forerunner Technology and Knowledge. Whoa, there's a large database of DNA samples."

"Halt!" I heard someone say. It was robotic. Everyone readied their weapons at something coming down the lift space.

"You are not authorized to be here," It said floating down. It was a Monitor.

"Lower your weapons," I ordered.

"What's your designation?" I asked it.

"Epsilon 19," The monitor replied, "Who are you?"

"John-117," I answered.

"Oh!" Epsilon 19 said, "I'm terribly sorry master. I did not know you would be coming so soon!"

"Do me a favor Epsilon," I said, "Unlock all data and allow my friend here to access it."

"Yes sir," Epsilon said, "I assume you're here to retrieve all the physical subjects and cataloged data?"

"Correct," I said, "Your orders are not to harm anyone here or in the ship. Let us work."

"Yes sir," Epsilon responded.

"So how are we doing this chief?" Kurt asked.

I looked up the lift area and down it. We had definitely found something here, but I wasn't sure what. Forerunner's were notorious for surprises in my book. My only hope was that their surprises didn't end up killing us. I took a glance at Sandra. I didn't like the idea of risking her life. It was then I realized that my ancestors intentions were for me to use it for humanities survival….possibly.

….

**Everything's unraveling so far, but I didn't want to write everything in one go round. I think you'll enjoy the surprises coming up. And this is such a cliffhanger, I know. Please Review.**


	7. Inheritance

**Chapter 7: Inheritance **

I looked at Dr. Halsey. "We'll check it out one by one," I said, "All of us."

"Agreed," Doctor Halsey said, "We could easily get lost in here. I'm sending for the lift."

The other Spartans were observing the area, making sure there was not a single thing out of place. I glanced around myself but wasn't worried. I looked at Sandra who was staring at something. Her gaze was blocked by her helmets eye visor. She was looking at me I guess. I nodded slightly and she did the same.

The lift was here. "We'll start at the top level," Dr. Halsey said, "That's where the class one technology is."

"What is class one?" Fred asked.

"Technology classes is a way for Forerunners to classify a level of technology," Dr. Halsey said, "Class one is the lowest and least harmful to anyone. Class seven is the most harmful. I think we should start looking at the lowest class. We'd probably be in awe or terrified of the higher class technology."

"Remember," Epsilon said, "This technology was meant to aide humanity in survival and their allies."

"I'll keep that in mind. Let's move," I ordered. There was no answer but they all followed me and Doctor Halsey on the lift.

She programmed the lift and we rode it all the way to the top floor. Above the door it had strange symbols. It took me a second to read them. _Culture_, is what I got out of it.

"Culture?" Doctor Halsey asked.

"I think," I said walking in with my gun trained on anything and everything. I lowered my assault rifle. There was a lot of stuff in here. There was clothing in what looked like pods. This clothing was similar to what human civilians wore. These civilian clothes look thin in fabric. It seemed that there was a multitude of dyes it came in. There were shirts, long-sleeved one's, pants, jackets, and shoes.

"It seems that the forerunners enjoyed fashion like we do," Doctor Halsey said. Everyone was probably thinking the same thing as I. I looked down at my MJOLNIR armor. I sarcastically thought, _real fashionable alright._

That was just one section of the massive room which was what I read as _Apparel_. We came across cuisine which was displays of types of food Forerunner's ate. It was very similar to what humans ate which included chickens and, Gueta meat, and vegetables. We made our way towards some weird place area concerning furniture which was beds, couches, and chairs. I began to wonder, had I been alive with my ancestors, if I would have been sitting or sleeping on any of it. I shook those thoughts from my mind. We went through sections with wares, agricultural mechanisms no bigger than someone's head, lighting, and entertainment holograms or holographs.

There wasn't much more to this floor so we left and took the lift to the next floor down. The next floor was interesting, slightly. It was about light transportation and defenses. Teleportation grids, gondolas, gravity lifts, gravity cannons, beam lifts, energy bridges, and energy walkways were displayed here. There were also plasma walls, doors, and shields everywhere. This was class two technology, apparently. There wasn't anything else here so we decided to move down to floor under us. The moment I stepped off the lift and into the door, Dr. Halsey gasped. The room, every nook and cranny, had vertical racks of strange looking weapons. These weapons were bright white that looked like claws almost. There were millions, possibly trillions.

"Are they weapons?" Sandra asked looking around.

Epsilon floated up in front of Dr. Halsey. "Yes," He said, "Class three Technology weapons called BM handgun. These are powerful weapons capable of blasting through anything unshielded easily. This floor and the next floor down have nothing but these weapons on them. There are approximately one million BM handguns per floor."

"Well," I said holstering my assault rifle, "Who's ready to continue?"

"Might as well," Will said, "This stuff is interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing more."

"Me either," Kelly commented.

The fifth level room was more like an armory all over again. There were strange larger versions of the BM handguns. They looked like a rifle version. "Those are BM cannon's," Epsilon announced, "Class four technology weapons. They place similar roles to your UNSC gauss cannons. There are a total of five hundred thousand in here. That is all that is located in here."

"Just cannons?" I asked.

"Yes sir," Epsilon said, "Forerunners thought weapons were barbaric so they designed these caches of weaponry to keep temptation of using them out of their reach."

"Then why leave it here?" Ash asked.

"Simple," Epsilon said floating up to him. Ash was probably intimidated by Epsilon, slightly. "They hoped that humanity could use them to defend themselves with." I stole a glance at Sandra. I wasn't sure if she was looking at me or Epsilon under her helmet.

"We're on a tight tour schedule," I said to Epsilon, "We'll worry about the details later. We're going down to level six."

When we went down into the next area, at first I thought we somehow ended up back at the tenth floor level, but then I realized we were in a new area full of some more interesting technology.

There were weird looking white suits in display cases. There were many variants of them. "Combat skins," Epsilon said, "These were Forerunner military uniforms. On the Technology level scale they are class five. However there is a more in depth classification. These are skins that have a class between one and eighteen. The higher the number, the more advanced it is."

"Oh," I said remembering Guilty Spark 343's words a while back, "MJOLNIR armor is only a class two. That's what the Spark told me when I was going through the library."

Dr. Halsey looked at me in disbelief. After all, she was proud when it came to her work. Seeing that her armor designs were supposedly low in advancement, it must have made her feel stupid. We explored this floor looking at the different designs in the Combat skins. I couldn't even begin to rap my mind around the concept of how advanced they were compared to my MJOLNIR armor. I could only guess at how Dr. Halsey felt if she could study them.

"John," I heard a pleasant voice announce. It was Sandra. I looked over at her. She stood away from everyone else. "I found some sort of weapons over here."

I eagerly walked over to where she was, not for the weapons entirely, but more to be in the company of her presence. She led me over into a large room with several weird weapons in similar designs to the BM handguns only the shape was more like a gauntlet. Epsilon floated up beside me. "Sir," He said, "Those are Energy Sabers. Sangheili based their energy swords off of them. These sabers are more lethal than energy swords."

"What Forerunner Tech isn't more lethal than any other?" Sandra asked rhetorically. I laughed lightly. That was true, very true.

Epsilon floated away. Apparently he was offended, oh well. We ignored him for a second admiring the large amount of isles and shelves full of the saber gauntlets. It wasn't long after that had we stumbled across several large war hammers, white and black in color. I wouldn't have noticed them if Kurt hadn't said something. There were isles full of them stacked in racks similar to how we stored Assault rifles and Battle rifles. I was just making an educated guess, but they looked like the predecessor of the Brutes Gravity hammers.

All in all there wasn't much more to this floor so we went to the next one down. It was the seventh floor level. This floor basically had nothing but sentinels and anything similar. These were class five technology according to Epsilon. There were Sentinels, Sentinel Major's, Onyx Sentinels, Constructors, Juggernaut's, Strato-sentinels, Super Sentinels, basically if it was a sentinel variant, it was here. Also there were the automated turrets.

I couldn't get over everyone's amazement as they looked upon the sizes of the larger ones. This floor was also large in height. The next floor down had caches of shapes of material and glass I didn't understand why it was here.

"This is a class six Technology cache," Epsilon announced, "This includes the building materials that most forerunner structures and machinery is made out of."

We came across Beam Cannons and Beam Turrets that were similar to the one's guarding the complex perimeter. This place was also full of, from what I could tell, large machines similar to mass production equipment. I couldn't believe these were the models that sentinels were mass produced in. The Beam Cannons were the size of a Covenant AA cannon. There was another beam cannon model that looked like a UNSC ground based Magnetic Gun called the Mass Driver.

We arrived on the ninth level shortly after. Epsilon had told us that everything from the ninth level to everything else we hadn't seen was Class seven Technology. So we expected something impressive. Epsilon explained everything to us. The ninth floor had small energy cores that were powerful enough to power an entire fleet of UNSC ships. There were maybe millions of them. There was also Ionization explosives that could make nuclear weapons look like a B.B gun. There were storage units full of Natural Artificial Implementing equipment, which Dr. Halsey told us it was a fancy string of words for Terraforming equipment. Then there were several generators in a row which Epsilon had told us that they were Forerunner Slipspace Engineering generators. Before we could move on to the tenth level floor Epsilon had stopped us.

"Before you go to the next floor down," He announced, "I strongly recommend you visit the Silo. It is accessible on this floor near the elevator lift." There was another hall but we didn't take it yet.

"Alright," I said nodding, "Let's head out." I was suspicious of Epsilon's request. Why change our direction?

So we backtracked and entered the hall. It led to a large window that was protected by an energy shield, but the view into the Silo was something else, if you could call it a Silo. There were hundreds of Forerunner ships docked at bays (Halo Wars Dreadnaught), and several Keyships were docked in the far back. Of course none of them could ever be as big as the _Fate of Faith_. You could fit all of those in the docking bays on it and still have three quarters docking space left.

Dr. Halsey could have fainted. I had to admit, the place was impressive. But another thing bothered me. How could I be the last Forerunner? Surely, even for humanities sake, there had to be more Forerunner's left that me. I shook these thoughts from my head. "As much as I want to gawk at this group of ships," I said, "I think we should head down to the last floor and check it out. We can pack all this stuff up once we see it."

"Wait you're taking it all?" Dez asked dumbfounded.

"I was planning on it," I said then turned to Epsilon, "That's okay right?"

"Yes sir," Epsilon said, "That's the reason it was stored here. For a Forerunner to give it to humanity." The way he talked…it was strange. I ignored it.

So we made our way down to the tenth level floor. This thing had one big door, similar to a vault door in banks, and three small ones behind it. We went into the left one first. It immediately led us left again. We walked in another door to be in a massive room. There were columns of data streams in a vertical position, huge mechanical consoles that looked like it created something, and small chips in energy field pods.

"This is the Forerunner knowledge cache," Epsilon said, "Everything the Forerunners have discovered, created, and witnessed are here. This is also where Constructs and their chips are created at."

"Wait," I said shocked, "This also has Fapth's knowledge too?"

"Yes," Epsilon said, "All knowledge discovered is directly replicated here. There is also storage for trillions of DNA samples in this room. I recommend we visit the Room 10B. If this deems surprising to you, then the contents of 10B will be extraordinary to you."

"Okay," I said, "Let's go."

"Very well," he replied.

Inside 10B I discovered something. Forerunner's should've been the one's living, not humans. I knew it was kind of selfish, and I really didn't understand their values, but let's face it. My ancestors could probably blink, and they could create universes. There was a large Arc-like teleporter that was similar to the one on the _Fate of Faith_. When we went through it, We were immediately transported to an artificial space. It was called the Forge. This was how Forerunners designed their tech and structures. They build three dimensional artificial objects in this world, and it was constructed in the real universe.

Everything I had learned, everything I had seen in this building, was all amazing, that was until we ventured in 10C. The halls were blue, everything was on platforms, and there were lights everywhere. The temperature was thirty degrees Fahrenheit as well. My heart immediately sank when I saw something awfully familiar. I immediately raised my assault rifle at the sight. We were in a Cold storage for the study of the Flood. There were tubes containing different forms that the flood was in. Infection forms, tank forms, flying forms, everything. My mind went on the fritz just looking at them.

"John?" Dr. Halsey asked, "What is it?"

"These," I said slowly, "Are Flood."

"They are the Flood?" Dr. Halsey asked.

"Yeah," I said walking towards a large yellowish room. We stopped looking at a large glass wall. There was Flood residue on the other side of the glass crawling with millions of infection forms and other forms. They all reacted when we came into view, trying to pound the glass. "We have to leave," I said, "Now."

Epsilon floated up beside me. "How long have you known?" I asked as we were making our way back out.

"For a while," He responded, "But I could not deter you from this path."

"Okay," I said frustrated with him, "I want security tightened on this storage unit as soon as you send signals to Sentinels about loading everything else but 10C contents on the _Fate of Faith_. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Epsilon said floating away quickly.

"I don't get it," Radcliff said, "What's so bad about these guys?"

I don't know what came over me, but I snapped. "Okay imagine being hunted down and something splitting your body apart from the spine, killing you, but using your body as a host. These things can wipe out humanity as quick as Forerunner's died. These things are extremely dangerous. Just one infection form is more lethal than a Scorpion Tank. I've been fighting these things ever since I stepped foot on Halo. No we're getting all the other technology and have this place so locked down, the Covenant won't dare to try and see what's inside."

"But I thought they were finished?" Dez said.

"Figure of speech," Kurt commented, "Just try not to piss him off any more."

"I'm not pissed," I said, "Just looking out for everyone. Not even the Covenant deserves to be taken by the Flood. You'll think the Covenant is just a friendly next door neighbor if you went head to head with the Flood."

Back on the _Fate of Faith_, everything was loaded in the storage unit, if possible, or in the docking area in less than two hours. This included the large database for all the knowledge that Forerunner's had gathered. I was personally overseeing the creation of more sentinels that would be stationed in the Cold Storage and all over the Entire Storage Complex. There was also construction going on involving plasma doors, solid walls, and the lift being shut down permanently. I even arranged Juggernaut Sentinels to be placed around the outside of the complex and a large energy shield be created to cover the entire complex. With that I gave Epsilon a choice.

"You can stay here," I said to him before Cortana was about to withdraw the transponders, "and monitor the security of the Complex, or you can stay on board the _Fate of Faith _with us. I'll even let you be the one who monitors it when no one is on board."

"The _Fate of Faith _sir?" Epsilon said, "Really?" I knew it was weird for an A.I Monitor to show glee.

"Sure," I said, "When I need the ship I'll let you know, okay?"

"Yes sir!"Epsilon said.

Back on the _Fate of Faith_, everyone was ready to go. I was walking towards the mission strategy area. Of course the other Spartan II's were standing there along with Dr. Halsey. "So where to now chief?" Kelly asked.

"Cortana?" I asked.

"I have pinpointed the rest of Spartan related deaths and MIA's," She replied, "It seems that Gamma company along with a fleet, attempted to stop a reinforcement fleet to the invasion of Earth. They were successful of course, but there were no survivors. I have been going through several mechanisms on the _Fate of Faith_'s battle ready area, but I did not see how it would be possible.

Oh well, I wouldn't give up no matter what. Even if it was going to take a few years….

….

End of chapter 7 and it's a little late and short.


	8. Story Updates for all Stories

Story Update about all stories…

Sorry for the mass confusion that this has caused everyone. I'm posting this on all stories. This is for my Alvin and the Chipmunks, Fallout, Naruto, Pokemon, and Halo Fanfics. I know you're expecting me to continue every story. The truth is, I'm torn into a million pieces on each one…..severely. No lie. I have trouble concentrating on everything. I truthfully want to finish these stories, especially my first, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Chipettes.

Yeah there are many people who are ticked off at me on the AATCAC, and I'm sorry. That story was my first and always will be. So I haven't been that truthful on a lot of crap. If you ever had mood swings during pregnancy, it's similar I guess. I'm a guy so I wouldn't know about being Pregnant, weird. But that's how my imagination and interests are. One minute I get inspiration for one story and then others I haven't even written about yet.

You see a simple song can change what kind of inspiration I have, say listening to the Chipmunks music gets me wanting to write about AATCAC yet something like "Can you Feel The Love Tonight" gets me wanting to write about Lion King (I have not written about lion king.) It goes like this for everything I read. I don't know what kind of disorder this is, if it is, or I'm just insane?

Anyways…..yeah. I'm trying to compensate for everything. Yet, how? Before I let you hear my answer, let me bombard you with more excuses, College, working at Mcdonalds, being in a Gaming Clan on Halo Reach, my life on a farm, also influences the amount of stress I have on writing. So before you call me names, give nasty reviews and all the angry complaints, I want you to think this over. Try to imagine all of this stuff. I love writing and coming up with ideas, also being descriptive, they're all what defines me. I guess it's the best way to express myself. Ironically, I'm not really a social person because of all of the above, mostly because of the work. I've always been one to let my imagination go haywire since I was four. (By eight I realized Harry Potter wasn't real…:P) .

So here's my answer to that problem….

I plan on coming to a stopping point in all stories sometime soon, hopefully within sometime in the next millinium on the AATCAC fanfic because it feels like a life time since I even looked at that thing. Anyways, the second part of that answer is that, I'm planning a massive Crossover on everything I can, sort of like Kingdom Hearts only with more stuff. I'm telling you, I can't find another way around it. If you support this idea, review. If not review anyways and let me hear your opinion. I just don't know what to do anymore.


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